MARGARET ANN NEWTON WAGENECHT

1927-2020

Margaret Ann Newton Wagenecht was born Feb. 5, 1927 in Birmingham, AL to Annis and Jeff Newton.

As a student at Phillips High School she studied flute at the National Music Camp, Interlochen, MI, for two summers.

She attended Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where she played flute in the college orchestra and in the Greensboro Symphony. She graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science in biology. As a student there, she played flute in the Tuscaloosa Symphony.

After graduation, she was employed by Southern Research Institute in Birmingham as a research assistant. She helped organize and was first president of Business Women’s Unity of the American Association of University Women. She played flute in the Birmingham Symphony and in the orchestra accompanying the summer Starlight Opera musicals at Birmingham-Southern College.

In 1954, she moved to Houston to be a research assistant at the Baylor College of Medicine.

In 1955, she met Eugene Gail Wagenecht, a petroleum engineer, and they were married on Nov. 28, 1955 in Birmingham. Her husband’s career took them from Houston to Beeville, TX; Lafayette and New Orleans, LA; Wheaton, IL; and back to Houston.

In Houston, Margaret was a member of Chapelwood United Methodist Church, where she sang in the choir, rang handbells, and was active in UMW.

She died March 26, 2020 at the age of 93. A memorial service will be held at Chapelwood UMC at a later date.

She was preceded in death by her husband on Dec. 17, 2014; and by her brother, Alexander Worthy Newton on Dec. 25, 2015.

Survivors include her children, Gail Lowe and husband Jim of Lampasas, TX, David Wagenecht and wife Anne of Baton Rouge, LA, and Marianne Theriot and husband Mike, also of Baton Rouge; seven grandchildren, David Lowe and wife Allysse, Ashley Hernandez and husband Eric, and Jeff Lowe, all of Lampasas, Rachel Theriot and husband Jonathan Follett of New Orleans, Emily Lefebvre and husband Chris, Annika Wagenecht and Allysa Wagenecht, all of Baton Rouge; and six great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to Chapelwood United Methodist Church, 11140 Greenbay St., Houston, TX 77024.