Eugene Pageler

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Eugene Pageler, 96, of Wamego, Kansas, passed away Monday, February 8, 2021.

Eugene was born to Albert and Laura Beasterfeld Pageler at their home at Wells Creek in rural Wabaunsee County, Kansas, on January 21, 1925.  He attended a one-room school house through 8^th grade in district #54, located along Belvue Road in the Wells Creek area. Eugene was confirmed at the Ohio Senate Lutheran Church at Wells Creek in 1938. He attended a farm mechanic/welding course for farmers in the 1940’s and started farming in 1942 with his father in the Wells Creek area. Eugene married Mary “Jean” Dewey on August 30, 1946 in Alma, Kansas. She survives of the home.

In 1954, Eugene started to farm on his own at Laclede, Kansas and surrounding area. In the spring of 1955, he and Jean made a home in Laclede. He continued to grow crops and raise cattle there until 2000.

Eugene started to drive the school bus for the Laclede School in 1959 and continued to drive for the Wamego School District after the Laclede School closed in the 1960’s. He enjoyed many of the students that rode his bus, and he enjoyed reminiscing and telling stories about his experiences as a school bus driver. He retired in 1985 but stayed very busy. He mowed and maintained the Laclede cemetery until 2010, and maintained roads in Pottawatomie County from 1985 to 2000, running the motor grader over 78 miles of county roads. He took great pride in the way he grade the gravel roads he maintained.

He was elected to the Pottawatomie County Center Township Board in 1967, and served as treasurer from 1968 to 2010. He enjoyed volunteering at the Wamego Historical Society Museum beginning in 2000, and was the museum’s volunteer of the year in 2009. He had fond memories of being a tour guide and telling stories about Wamego to museum visitors. He mostly enjoyed spending time with family and each Christmas for many years he dressed up and played Santa for several families and his grandchildren.  Eugene was a colon cancer survivor for 16 years.

Eugene is also survived by his son, Dennis Pageler, and wife Laurene, Wamego, KS;  his daughter Polly Oswald, and husband Richard, Onaga, KS; four grandchildren: Nathan (Sarah), Ellianna, Adam, and Caleb. He was preceded in death by two sisters, Norma Jean Allen and Nadine Habel, and a grandson, Zachary Pageler.

Eugene will lie in-state at the Campanella & Stewart Funeral Home of Wamego on Monday, February 15^th from 1:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. The family will not be present. Private family funeral services will be held Tuesday, February 16, 2021, with burial to follow in Wamego City Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to the Wamego Historical Society, and may be left in care of Campanella & Stewart Funeral Home of Wamego, PO Box 48, 66547.