Roll Call Tribute

Haggard Funeral Home obituary
 info@haggardfuneralhome.com
203 E. Clarksville St.
Jefferson, Texas 75657
 (903) 665-3939
 903-665-3930

Mr. Thomas Martin Wagner III
Born: January 11, 1934
Died: January 28, 2015

Memorial services for Thomas Martin Wagner, III, husband of Jeri Lynne Walters Wagner of Jefferson, will be held 10:30 A.M. Friday, February 13, 2015 at the Christ Episcopal Church in Jefferson, Texas with Father David Puckett officiating. Mr. Wagner passed away January 28, 2015 in San Augustine, Texas. Private interment will be at Oakwood Memorial Park. 

Tom was born January 11, 1934 in Marshall, Texas, the son of Thomas M. Wagner, Jr. of Marshall, Texas and Julia Marie Sullivan of Navasota, Texas. He was a fifth generation Texan. 

Tom attended the public schools of Marshall, Texas. He was a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Demolay, a member of Trinity Episcopal Church where he was an acolyte for many years. He was a Vestry member of Trinity Episcopal. 

Tom Graduated from Texas A&M College in the class of 1956. While at A&M he was a member of the Corps, A-Troop Cavalry, and received a commission as a 2nd Lt. in the United States Army. During his army career, he attended Armor Officer’s Basic Training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, after which he was stationed at Camp Leonard Wood Missouri, where he served as Cadre in a Basic Training Regiment. 

Upon leaving the service, Tom worked at Thikol Chemical Corporation for a brief time, taught Math at the Marshall Junior High School, worked for Republic Insurance of Dallas, Texas, as a Claims Adjuster, and joined Sperry-Sun Well Surveying Company, with whom he worked for 24 years. During his career with Sperry-Sun, he worked offshore Louisiana as a bore-hole surveyor, at the Nevada Atomic Test Site as Assistant manager, involved in directional surveying during underground atomic tests for the purpose of retrieving radioactive samples from the detonation sites for use in analysis by both Lawrence Radiation Laboratories and Los Alamos Laboratory. Tom participated in the development of techniques used to accurately determine the precise bottom-hole location of large diameter boreholes up to 104 inches in diameter. 

After leaving the Atomic Test Site, he worked in Norfolk, England, participating in the first development fields brought in the North Sea. He served as Manager of Sperry-Sun’s operation in Beirut, Lebanon, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He later served as Middle East Regional Manager for work performed in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Iran, India, Pakistan, Qatar, and Saudia Arabia. Afterward, he was Regional Manager of Sperry-Sun’s operations in the Far East, headquartered in Singapore, from which he participated in operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and New Guinea. 

During his latter career with Sperry-Sun, he served as National Sales Manager, interim Vice President of Operations for North America, and Administrative Manager of International. 

Upon retirement from Sperry-Sun April 1, 1985, Tom was instrumental in the development of a new solid-state magnetic borehole surveying instrument and redevelopment of a better magnetic steeringtool for directional drilling. He formed a corporation, Sharewell Inc. of Houston, Texas, which marketed these new instruments to both oil field directional drilling services and pipeline directional drilling services. Tom sold his ownership in Sharewell Inc. and moved with his family “home” to Caddo Lake and settled in Jefferson, Texas. 

During his retirement years in Jefferson, Tom served on the Vestry of Christ Episcopal Church, one term as Senior Warden. He also served as Junior Warden. He was a Board Member of the Jefferson Historical Society Museum, a member of the Friends of the Jefferson Carnegie Library, a member of the Board and Chairman of the Cypress Valley Navigation District. 

Tom was happily married on May 22, 1963, in Austin, Texas to the former Jeri Lynne Walters of Jefferson, Texas. He is survived by his loving wife, Jeri Lynne, and son, Thomas “Martin” Wagner, IV. of Austin, Texas, brother-in-law, Mahlon L. Walters, III and wife Jessica, of Burleson, Texas, and Michael C. Walters of Dallas, Texas and several wonderful first cousins, Vernon Lewis and Pat, and Bill Lewis and Florence.