WAGNER LEAVES JACKSON PARK BOARD AFTER 20 YEARS

JACKSON -- Mention parks anywhere in the city, and Vera Wagner springs to mind.

City officials lauded Wagner, 82, for her long-time involvement on the city's park board Monday. She retired from the board at the end of her term and after more than 20 years of volunteer service to the city.

Mayor Paul Sander said Wagner "sets the example" for volunteer service in Jackson.

"I've got a list of people who want to serve on the park board to choose from, instead of having to get down on my knees and beg" for volunteers, Sander said, adding he attributes that happy surplus to Wagner's leadership.

"I don't have that on any other board," he added.

Wagner's proudest accomplishment, she says, is transforming the old city pool in Jackson City Park into a playground for children. The new playground was dedicated on Mother's Day in 1986. Wagner designed and painted the wooden animals surrounding the play area.

"It was a fun thing to do, and I did them in my basement," she said.

Alderman David Hitt, who served on the park board at the time the pool was replaced, called the pool "a big old hole in the ground."

"Everybody came up with ideas and spending thousands of dollars for all this," Hitt said. "And this lady right here said, let's fill it in and set playground equipment in there. We all said, that's kind of a dumb idea, and then we thought about it and said, that's a great idea."

The pool was filled in with debris and yard waste, Wagner said. "It took about a year to fill that up," she said.

Hitt called Wagner "the guiding light" in developing the city's parks system, and credited her with securing grants for Litz Park and helping establish Brookside Park.

"You can put your finger on stuff that Vera Wagner has done, and if it hadn't been for her efforts and her sometimes pushing people to do things, those things wouldn't be here," he said.

Wagner joked that she never served as president of the park board, "but even though I wasn't president, I took over a lot."

Sander said Wagner "gives the time and the effort necessary to improve the city."

Wagner taught school for several years in Jackson and was stationed in New Orleans as a Navy WAVE in World War II.

"I'm tired," she said. "But I'll miss the people."

Wagner said she'll especially miss the city's parks workers, whom she calls "my boys."

She is especially well-known for bringing her "boys" treats like German chocolate cake and watermelon.