Mary Lee (Hill) Wagoner was born January 7, 1922, at her home in Cameron, Oklahoma, to her parents, Veston and Bessie Hill. She was the first of four children, followed by two sisters and one brother. As a child, she loved music and she excelled on the piano. She was the salutatorian of her 1939 high school graduating class at Cameron High School. The next fall after graduation, she enrolled at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah and graduated with her teaching degree in music. it is there that she met the love of her life, Royce Wagoner, and following World War II, they married and settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she taught public school music at Bryant Elementary, Longfellow Elementary, and Hoover Elementary Schools. Mary Lee and Royce raised two children: son, Robert and daughter, Carol. The family was active at First Baptist Church, Tulsa, where Royce and Mary Lee both sang in the choir for 20 years, and taught children in Sunday School and Training Union.
In 1967, the family moved to Guthrie, Oklahoma. Mary Lee taught music at Forgarty Elementary until she retired in 1985. In 2007, her husband, Royce, was called to his heavenly home after 63 years of marriage.
Mary Lee continued living in their home in Oklahoma City until 2017, when she moved back to Guthrie for two years. In 2019, she movedto Colorado Springs, Colorado, and lived with her daughter Carol, and husband Calvin. In 2023, she moved back to Tulsa and became a resident of Aberdeen Heights, later moving to The Legend where she lived until her passing.
Mary Lee was a member of Faith Baptist Church, Sapulpa, where her son serves as Pastor. She faithfully attended every Sunday until she was unable to do so.
Mary Lee was preceded in death by her father, Veston Hill, and mother Bessie Mae Stanford Hill of Cameron; sister Elizabeth Ann Schweikhard of Tulsa, and brother, Leon Hill of Shawnee. She is survived by her sister, Janey Spencer of Broken Arrow; her sister-in-law, Nancy Mihura and her husband, Jim, of Oklahoma City; her son, Robert and his wife, Kerry Ann Wagoner of Tulsa; her daughter Carol and her husband, Calvin Chavez of Peyton, Colorado; grandchildren, Alicia Olmstead and her husband, Rob of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Reagan Wagoner and his wife, Heather, of Springboro, Ohio; Ryan Wagoner and his wife, Sarah, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Brian Clark and his wife, Heather, of Fort Collins, Colorado Sonya Clark of Denver, Colorado; Isabel Frame and her husband, Isaac of Denver, Colorado, Frank Sullivan, III and his wife Amanda, of Sallisaw, Oklahoma; Matt Sullivan and his wife, Chelsea, of Claremore, Oklahoma; Andrea Knight and her husband, Kenny of Sallisaw, Oklahoma; 13 great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren, and many loving nieces and nephews.
Funeral Service will be 10AM, Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at Faith Baptist Church, 7100 OK-117, Sapulpa, Oklahoma.
Private family only burial will be in Oklahoma City's Resthaven Cemetery alongside her husband.