Sarah Joan Wagner

WAGNER, Sarah Joan Handley, 88, passed away at home on October 23, 2022. Joan, as she was known to her countless friends, liked to remind those around her to “make enjoy” – and she did just that, with gusto. She was the epitome of a “people person” who exuded warmth, friendliness, and joy wherever she went. Her body is gone, but her spirit will always be with us, filling our hearts and continuing to light up our lives.

Joan was born in Greenville, South Carolina, to her loving parents Thomas and Margaret Handley. When Joan was a teen, her family (which included sisters Margaret and Aleta and brother Tom, all of whom she considered her best friends) moved to Lake Worth, Florida. There, she met and married her high-school sweetheart, Tampa attorney Bill Wagner, and the two were happily married for more than two decades. In those early years, Joan was a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach – so appropriate given that she always had concern for others and showered everyone she met with love and care. After their three sons were born, Joan turned all her energies to being a devoted mother and homemaker. She created the type of home where her boys could be themselves – and where their friends would come just to hang out (and eat those delicious goodies Mrs. Wagner always whipped up for their benefit!).

Joan cooked with a passion, and her culinary dishes were legendary. The consummate hostess, she knew how to throw a mean dinner party, whether to support her husband’s career, celebrate her sons’ birthdays, or simply gather friends to enjoy the spice of life. When the music started (preferably with her favored saxophone carrying the melody), you’d find Joan on the dance floor, cutting the rug with flair. She was fearless, too. When Bill began flying their Beech Baron plane for family vacations, Joan got her pilot’s license as well, to make sure she could land the plane in an emergency and keep her beloved boys safe. She was an avid reader; nearly every medical appointment would begin by Joan asking her doctor: “So, what good books have you read lately?” Joan’s thumb was bright green; she not only loved gardening but also treasured the years she spent with her Tampa Garden Club friends and, of course, with her lifelong girlfriends in the “Rat Pack” group. Joan never met a stranger; it was a foregone conclusion that her next-door neighbors on Davis Islands would remain deep friends forever, long after she had moved away.

When her sons grew up and got married, Joan told everyone that she “got the girls she always wanted,” and she became the most loving mother-in-law on earth. And when those sons and daughters-in-law had children of their own, Joan was the best “Nanee,” “Toddy,” “JoJo,” and “Sweetheart” that any grandchild ever knew. How she loved her grandchildren so. During the historic pandemic, her “proud great-grandmother” count grew by two, and her joy overflowed.

Following her divorce, Joan shared love and life with Lee Thornton Davis, formerly of Tampa. For decades, the two sailed Florida’s ocean blue, donned the pirate spirit every Gasparilla, enjoyed mint juleps on Kentucky-Derby days, and watched sunsets on the canal with their Apollo Beach pals. The duo also enjoyed special family time with Lee’s daughter Sharon Davis, of Tampa, granddaughter Ashlee Dennis, of Lakewood, Colorado, and Ashlee’s three young children.

In her twilight years, Joan moved to Sun City Center, where she took up watercolors -- and where her buddies in the Wednesday Art Group became a lifeline of friendship and support. While in Sun City Center, she also drew fellowship and spiritual sustenance from the pastor and parishioners at Ruskin United Methodist Church – though on Sunday afternoons her primary focus, like her clothing choice, reflected yet another passion: for her hometown Buccaneers team. As her body grew more fatigued during her long battle with three cancers, Joan continued, to the end, to marinate her realism in characteristic optimism and grace.

Joan always said, “Keep a smile on your face and a song in your heart.” Even in her death, she would want us not to be sad but instead to carry on as sources of brightness, to make enjoy for ourselves and our loved ones and others whose paths we happen to cross. We promise, our dear Mom/Mama, to honor your beautiful legacy of love by trying to follow the shining example that was your life.

Joan is survived by her sons, Alan F. Wagner (Deborah) of Tampa, Darryl W. Wagner (Karen) of Valrico, and Thomas A. Wagner (Rose) of Temple Terrace; her grandchildren, Christopher T. Wagner (Kayley) of Tampa, Matthew A. Wagner (Lauren) of Tampa, Alexander C. Wagner (Stefanie) of Denver, Natalie Wagner Niepoth (Mick) of New York City, and Michael Anthony Whidden; her great-grandchildren Sayla, Emma, and Wren (and Wren’s baby sister Willa on the way!); sisters Margaret Handley Corderman of Hutchinson Island and Aleta Handley Cummings (Jim) of Fort Pierce; and her nieces Heidi and Lisa, nephews Jimmy and Danny, and their collective children and grandchildren, all of whom she adored. Joan is preceded in death by her parents, Thomas Bonaparte Handley and Margaret Tucker Osborne Handley, and brother Thomas Osborne Handley.

Joan will be inurned during a family ceremony at Myrtle Hill Memorial Park in Tampa. Blount & Curry Funeral Home at Garden of Memories is handling the arrangements.