Glen Wagoner

Glen Wagoner was born on July 28, 1927 at home in Terreton, Idaho and spent his early life on a farm. His father, Thomas Wagoner, was a homesteader and developed irrigation canals that supplied water to farmers in the area. His mother Florence was the schoolteacher in a one-room schoolhouse. Glen became an officer in the U.S. Navy and served in World War II. He majored in Physics at Idaho State University and then went to the University of Chicago where he met Julie. It was the farthest East he’d ever been and the farthest West she’d been. After they married, they moved to California where he graduated from UC Berkeley with a PhD in Physics. He then worked as a Physicist in Cleveland, Ohio, at Union Carbide where they lived for 45 years and their daughter was born. Glen started Wagoner Enterprises and developed vacuum testing systems for measuring the thermal conductivity of carbon fibers. He loved sailing, fishing, canoeing, camping and hiking. He heard lectures by Feynman and pondered whether the universe would ever stop expanding as discussed by Gamow — and could help anyone puzzle through a problem. He died from viral pneumonia less than a year after Julie passed. They retired to north Boulder in 2003 to audit physics classes at the University of Colorado as alumni. He tutored students. They lived among the eagles, pine trees, mountain lions, bears, turkeys, meadowlarks and foxes. Julie and Glen Wagoner were together for 71 years.