Longtime WSU Libraries’ Supporter, WSC Alum Betty Lou Wagner Remembered
By Trevor Bond, WSU Libraries Dean
Betty Lou Wagner, a longtime WSU Libraries’ donor and alumna of Washington State College (WSC), passed away on Nov. 8, 2025, leaving a lasting legacy of supporting professional development at WSU Libraries and establishing an endowed fund at the University of Washington’s Architecture-Urban Planning Library, where she worked for 53 years.
Born May 20, 1928, in Miles City, Montana, Wagner eventually settled in Reardan, Washington, where she graduated in 1946 from high school as salutatorian, the second highest rank in her graduating class. She received a $50 residence hall scholarship to attend WSC, entering with a large class of World War II veterans.
During her first year, Wagner worked in the Bryan Hall Library, where she remained until the spring of 1950. She witnessed the construction of Holland Library and assisted with the move into the new building. Wagner graduated from WSC with a bachelor’s degree in English and a certificate in journalism in 1950 and enrolled in the UW School of Librarianship, completing her bachelor’s degree in 1951.
Wagner’s professional career began two days after graduation at the UW Libraries, where she served as head of the Architecture-Urban Planning Library, a position she held until her retirement in 2004. Her career spanned a period of extraordinary change, from card catalogs to the migration of information into networked computer systems. She loved working with students and deeply valued her colleagues.
In 1997, the UW established the Betty L. Wagner Endowed Library Fund to provide long-term student assistance and preserve and process the architectural drawings collection. In 2000, the Washington Council of the American Institute of Architects named Wagner an Honorary Affiliate Member in recognition of her lifetime of service.
In 2013, Wagner established an endowment to support professional development for WSU Libraries’ faculty and staff, expressing gratitude for her education at WSC and for the formative role Bryan Hall and Holland Libraries played in her life. In this fiscal year, WSU Libraries used the Wagner Endowment to support travel for staff attending the Charleston Conference and the Northwest Interlibrary Loan Conference.
Wagner later moved to Horizon House on University Avenue in Seattle, where she delighted in the garden terraces and tended a small plot. I last saw Betty during a visit a few years ago with Lipi Turner-Rahman, the libraries’ former development director. We joined her for a lively dinner at Horizon House on pasta night, with the dining room filled with festive residents. Betty was as sharp and funny as ever and already thinking about planting flowers on her patio.
Turner-Rahman remembers her as “kind, sweet, and incredibly giving, but she was also delightfully sassy and didn’t let anyone get away with much.”
“Betty Lou held her education, especially her time at Washington State College, very close to her heart, and she believed deeply in the power of learning to open doors and shape lives,” Turner-Rahman added. “She was politically astute, sharp as a tack, and always made me smile every time I saw her or had the chance to talk with her. Truly one of a kind.”
As part of her estate, Wagner left an additional $30,000 to be added to her endowment. In a 2001 University of Washington Magazine article reflecting on the creation of the endowment for the Architecture-Urban Planning Library, she said, “It makes me feel like my presence will be felt long after I’m gone, but in a different way.”
Her presence will indeed be felt at WSU forever, as her generosity continues to support the professional development of our faculty and staff. For that, I am deeply grateful.