COLUMBIANA - Cathleen Ann Wagner, 55, of Columbiana died at 3:55 a.m. Wednesday from complications of the H1N1 virus.

Mrs. Wagner had been ill for nearly three weeks, having spent most of that time in intensive care at the Cleveland Clinic.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Salem with Pastor Alan Smearsoll and Pastor Bill Wilkins officiating. A brief viewing period will precede the service at 10 a.m.

Mrs. Wagner was born Oct. 30, 1954, in Pittsburgh and was raised in the nearby community of Cheswick.

She was the daughter of Janet and the late Raymond L. Calvert. She attended Springdale High School in Springdale, Pa., graduating in 1972 with high honors.

She then went on to study education at Slippery Rock University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1976. She later received a master's degree in education from Youngstown State University.

An elementary school teacher, Mrs. Wagner spent nearly 30 years teaching at Joshua Dixon Elementary School in Columbiana. Most recently, she taught kindergarten, but before that she had taught the first and third grades.

Mrs. Wagner was the recipient of many accolades recognizing her outstanding achievements as an educator. In 1991, she was awarded the Myrtle Miller Marijane Werner Award for Exemplary Mathematics Teaching by the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics. One year later, she received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching for the State of Ohio, earning an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., where she met and had dinner with several elected officials and state dignitaries, including then-First Lady Hillary Clinton.

She is survived by her husband of 32 years, Raymond A. Wagner, Jr., and her two sons, Benjamin and Andrew. She is also survived by her mother, Janet Calvert, of Cheswick, Pa. and her younger sister, Lynne Rae Perkins, of Suttons Bay, Mich.

Calling hours will be from 4-8 p.m. Saturday and from 2-6 p.m. Sunday at Seederly- Mong & Beck Funeral Home in Columbiana.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her honor to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America. To donate online, visit myasthenia.org/hcih_donations.cfm.

Friends may visit www.seederly-mongandbeck.com to view this obituary, sign the guest register or send private condolences.

11/19/09