Wanda S. Hargus

She was born to the late Claude Leslie and Annie May Strader, August 14, 1925 in Harrodsburg, Kentucky but moved to Canadian, Texas at the age of 5. She graduated from Canadian High School in 1942 and attended McMurray Methodist College in Abilene, Texas for a summer of secretarial training. Her family moved to Carthage, Missouri that August and Wanda left home to join the ranks of G girls supporting the war effort at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

She married the late Lee Marion Hargus in 1946 and lived in Washington, D.C. until 1954 when they moved with their two children Stanley McCormick and Janet Lee Hargus to Alexandria, Virginia. Lee died in March, 1960 from a lingering war time injury and Wanda continued to live and raise her children in Alexandria. She was an active member of the Fairlington Methodist Church while working in the Minnie Howard elementary school office before moving to the business office of Circle Terrace Hospital in 1972.

After retiring in 1984, Wanda moved to Zephyrhills, Florida where she joined two of her three sisters, the late Doris Strader Little and the late Gladys Strader Houck. Wanda stayed active in the Zephyrhills Methodist church and on the tennis court; tennis was her passion and she had many trophies for senior tournaments in Zephyrhills.

Wanda is survived by her two children Stanley and Janet, three grandchildren Matthew Hargus, Rick Carlson and Daniela Hargus and three great-grandchildren, Tyler Hargus and Rhys and Devyn Carlson.

Wanda's remains will be buried in the grave site with her husband Lee at the Arlington National Cemetary outside Washington, D.C. on November 10th, 2011 at 10:00. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be sent to Cal Farley's Boys and Girls ranch in the panhandle of Texas (www.calfarley.org) or the National COPD Foundation (www.copdfoundation.org).

Wanda Lee Strader Hargus - Autobiography (including Lee M. Hargus 1912-1960)

The following autobiography was written for a family reunion in 2008. The words were our moms, but she had editorial help from her nieces Barbara Perry and Karen New. Mom died August 13th 2011 from complications related to COPD. She will be buried on November 10th 2011 at Arlington National Cemetery; she will be placed at the same gravesite as our father Lee Hargus, who died in 1960.

I was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky on August 14, 1925 - the youngest child of Annie Mae and Claude Leslie Strader. Memories of life in Harrodsburg are few, since we moved to Canadian, TX when I was five. But I do remember the popcorn stand that belonged to my grandfather, John Coleman VanArsdall, because he always had some popcorn me.

We arrived in Canadian in October, 1930, and moved into a house near the edge of town. Unknown to us at the time, the previous owners of the house were bootleggers. Very soon their former "clients" began knocking on the door requesting their booze! Dad would have to answer the door and inform them of the change in policy! Later, we moved to a house on top of the hill.

There was no kindergarten in Canadian, so I began school as a first grader. It seemed like a long walk to school, especially for someone who would rather be home playing. Often I would check into my classroom then, at the first opportunity, leave and start home again. My sister Gladys would have to take me by the hand and return me to school! When I was older, I rode my horse to school when dad wasn't plowing with him.

When I was in junior high, George Kalas (my handsome, dark-haired, dark-eyed classmate) and I fell in love. He was so smitten that he gave me five pounds of chocolate at Christmas time. Mother and Dad were horrified that such young people could be so serious! But at least they didn't make return his gift.

From age 12 to 15, when the spring school semester was finished, my older sister Martha Lou and I would take the bus or train (whichever was cheaper) to Chautauqua, NY for the summer. To this day, it is a mystery to me why Mother ever allowed her two young girls to travel on public transportation for four days alone! We always packed food for the trip, but as you can imagine, it was gone long before we reached our destination and we were starving by the time Gladys and Houckie picked us up! I went to the Girls Club and Martha Lou worked at the Bookstore or the Athenaeum Hotel as a waitress.

I was always an 'outdoor girl' and sports were a big part of my life. In high school, I was a forward on the girls’ basketball team and I played tennis. For reasons I don't remember now, grades 11 and 12 were combined, which meant that I graduated from high school just before my seventeenth birthday, after a year of very hard work! Now my parents let me drive, finally - my best friend, Helen Coleman, had been allowed to drive since she was 13!

The summer after graduation in 1942, my parents signed me up to take a secretarial course at McMurray Methodist College in Abilene, a full-days drive from home. The Methodist minister of nearby Miami, Texas drove his daughter and me, and we spent the entire summer there taking classes together. When I returned from Abilene in August, my parents and I moved to Carthage, Missouri where Uncle Raz (Dad's brother) had found work at Camp Crowder. When Dad began working there also, Mother turned her attention to me and began looking for a job for me. An announcement appeared in the newspaper about an opportunity for jobs in Washington, D.C. and I applied.

In 1943, the new Pentagon building had just opened, and the government was looking for young women secretaries as staff. Several of us girls from the Carthage area took the bus from Omaha where we joined many others. We were all given a short secretarial course, then we were tested; those who passed were accepted into the program and transported to Washington. We were called G girls (for Government) and were housed in an empty army barracks near the Pentagon. We took the bus or walked to work, or sometimes General Omar Bradley would give us a ride in his car! We worked in a huge room with desks for the army officers and the girls. I was assigned to one, or sometimes two, officers, and did all the secretarial work for them. This job lasted three years, during which time I met my husband.

Lee M. Hargus was a native of Kansas City, but lived in Tucson, Arizona during high school and college. He graduated from the University of Arizona in Journalism, and at the age of 23 became general manager and publisher of the Tucson Daily Citizen, the youngest person in the country to hold such a position. He later worked in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Bakersfield, California in the newspaper business. He served in the Navy during WWII, and then joined the staff of Secretary of Defense James Forrestal in 1947. He was Defense Department information director at the Nevada Proving Grounds in 1952. Before his retirement due to disability, he worked in the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. He retired in 1957 and passed away March 16, 1960.

Lee and I met in June of 1945 and were married in January of the next year. He left the Navy in 1946 as a lieutenant commander, and worked at the Naval Research Lab as a civilian. We lived at the Fort Greble apartment complex in Anacostia near his work when Stanley (1948) and Janet (1953) were born. That apartment was memorable because of the constant airplane traffic landing at Washington National Airport nearby. When Lee began a job at the Pentagon, we moved to an apartment on King Street in Alexandria, Virginia in 1954. I stayed at home with the children and found opportunities to play tennis for exercise and recreation. I joined the Methodist church and became active in United Methodist for Women, and taught Sunday school for two or three years to 4th and 5th graders.

In 1962, I began working in the business office at Minnie Howard Elementary School where the children attended. Then I was asked to be the attendance officer, and also to make the public address announcements for the school. I stayed there for 7 years. Also in 1962, I bought our first house on North Early Street, and Princess the beagle came into our lives. She lived up to her name and was part of our family for 15 years.

In 1972 I began working at Circle Terrace Hospital as the switchboard operator. From there I was promoted into the Business Office where I was bonded and did the hospital banking. I continued in that job for twelve years.

Meanwhile, the Houcks and the Littles had moved to Florida in the mid-1970's and I visited them frequently through the years. They took me to see all of the attractions that Florida is famous for, and I liked what I saw. I liked the community where they lived, and the mild climate so when it came time for my retirement in 1984, I sold my house in Alexandria and bought a house in Zephyrhills. I made new friends, played tennis as often as I could (sometimes every day), and won a few more trophies along the way too! I played golf, went to baseball spring training games, and rooted for my Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I joined the Methodist Church, volunteered at the local hospital for 12 years, and delivered Meals on Wheels for 8 years with Gladys.

In 2003, I moved to Massachusetts to be near Stanley and his family. I live at The Inn at Robbins Brooke, a very nice assisted living home about 15-20 minutes from Stan and Nina. Although it was a major adjustment for me, I am content here; I have made friends and stay active in the activities and programs they offer, including ceramics which I enjoy very much. I regularly play cards with two men who have had accidental brain injuries; it's very rewarding to see their card-playing skills improve as they recover from their injuries. It's also a great delight to be near my granddaughter, Daniela, and watch her grow up. Stan and Nina always include me in their family activities and celebrations which I enjoy very much.

From 2003 - 2010, Mom was relatively healthy. Although as is common with age she became less and less mobile and needed increasingly more help with her daily activities. She was hospitalized in December 2010 and from thereon showed a rapid decline in health. She was put under Hospice care in March but lived in her apartment and did not enter a nursing home until August where she died peacefully a day before her 86th birthday.