Rosa Bell Wagoner
May 25, 2922 – Feb. 8, 2023
Rosa Bell Wagoner, age 100, passed away on Feb. 8, 2023.
The longtime Johnson and Sheridan County resident was born on May 25, 1922, on the family homestead near Moorcroft to Stanley and Zora Key. She attended schools in Kaycee and Buffalo and graduated from Johnson County High School with the class of 1940.
On March 18, 1947, she married Allen Wagoner. Over the next 10 years they made their home on several Johnson County ranches. In 1957 they bought a ranch on the Tongue River in Sheridan County where they raised their five children. In 1982 they retired and moved to Buffalo. After Allen’s passing in 2007, she moved to Oak Harbor, Washington, to be near her children.
Rosa Bell absolutely loved camping in the Bighorn Mountains. She shared many stories of the two summers she and Allen managed the Clear Creek Cow Camp. Allen and she often enjoyed picnics at their favorite city park table by beautiful Clear Creek. They played countless games of cribbage at home and at the Tie Hack Campground.
Rosa Bell was very active in the Johnson County Extension Homemakers Club and proud of the many projects and people the Club helped. She was very talented in crafts. She made heirloom crochet tablecloths for each of her children and won many awards at the Johnson County Fair.
She was 78 years old when she got her first computer and quickly became proficient using email, scanning photos and video conferencing with her family. Rosa Bell was an avid rodeo fan and constantly watched rodeos and bull riding. She was very honored to have her photo on horseback published in the Rodeo News magazine.
She was preceded in death by her husband Allen, her parents, her daughter Linda Carter, her daughter-in-law Valeria Wagoner, her brotherBob Key, and sister Thelma Key Keiser. She is survived by two sons, Ron Wagoner (Kathy) of Oak Harbor, Washington and Rick Wagoner of Quitman, Texas, and two daughters, Ann Brecht of Fort Collins, Colorado, and Phyllis Mayo (Bill) of Boulder. Four grandchildren and four great grandchildren also survive her.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
