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Beloved Kingsley School Secretary Starts Her Next Chapter

A beloved Northern Michigan school employee who’s been around for more than four decades is about to start a new chapter.

Kay Wagner has spent 43 years working at Kingsley Area Schools and is retiring at the end of the school year.

“I started in 1978, filling in for a lady whose husband got in an accident because the principal came and asked me, and so I’ve never left,” said Wagner.

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Wagner is the first face you see when you walk into the middle school.

“When I was first hired many years ago, she was the very first friendly, kind face at the office. She just makes everyone feel comfortable and welcome,” said Stacie Jankewicz, teacher at Kingsley Middle School.

Over the last 43 years, she’s held a few roles throughout the school district, from the elementary librarian to the middle school secretary for the last 30 years.

“I take attendance in the morning, and along with answering the phone we have a security system where the children or the adults have to buzz in, and then I have to get them in. I also give medications. I do anything that a mother would do,” explained Wagner.

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“Mrs. Wagner is just an amazing person, and she’s always so sweet to us. She’s like a grandma to my siblings and me,” said Laura Johnson, sixth grader at Kingsley Middle School.

Wagner says the best part of her job is all the staff and students who fill the halls and classrooms.

“The relationships that I’ve made with our staff...they’re like my second family, and I lost my husband a couple of years ago so they helped me through,” said Wagner. “Also all the children that come back after they graduate. In fact, I think I have maybe 15 graduation open houses so far.”

As Wagner starts her next chapter, she says might not go too far. “I would like to maybe come back and be a volunteer in the elementary to help children read,” said Wagner.

“It’s going to be a completely different place without her face,” said Jankewicz.

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