EAST BERNE — Earl W. Wagoner was a man who would work hard all day and play hard at night, whether that was square-dancing, fiddling, snowmobiling, or spending time with his large and loving family, who surrounded him when he died on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. He was 96.

Mr. Wagoner spent his whole life in East Berne, said his daughter, Leila Gardineer. He was born in 1922 in the home of his parents, William and Clarissa (née Miller) Wagoner. He grew up in the heart of the Great Depression, attending Berne-Knox and working on his grandparents’ farm off Filkins Hill Road before he left school to work on his parents’ farm full-time, she said.

“It was tough,” said Mrs. Gardineer. “They worked hard.”

It was a life lesson in working hard that he would pass on to his children. After buying his own homestead in 1948, where he stayed for 70 years, Mr. Wagoner established his own farm, which was mainly for hay and beef cattle, but he kept some chickens and pigs as well. His four children later worked on the farm throughout the day in the summertime.

“The kids used to be happy when it was raining … ,” said Mrs. Gardineer. “We wouldn’t have to do the hay.”

While working in the barn with their father, the kids often battled with him over control of the radio station. While his children would be playing rock-and-roll to work by, Mr. Wagoner would switch the channel to a country-music station whenever he stopped work before his children changed the station back to rock-and-roll, and so on.

Mr. Wagoner enjoyed an older style of country music as well as bluegrass; he and his wife would spend occasional weekends in a travel camper at a bluegrass show, their daughter said.

The days of working on the farm in the summer were broken up with trips at night to Thompson’s Lake to swim, or to get coveted huge servings of Dutcher’s Ice Cream.

Mr. Wagoner also was an extremely skilled self-taught mechanic. He worked on diesel trucks at the Voorheesville Army Depot before it closed. After that, he worked in the mail department for the radio station WAMC, based out of Albany Medical College at the time. But for all that time he remained a farmer as well.

Mr. Wagoner learned to play the fiddle from his father, and he would play at square dances when he wasn’t a caller or dancing himself. It was while calling a dance that he met Florence Olsmit. They married in 1946 and remained together for 62 years, their marriage only ending in Mrs. Wagoner’s death.

The two loved to frequent the local dance halls like the Knox Grange and Pat's Ranch. They even joined a square-dancing club that was featured on the Pete Williams Show, with Mrs. Wagoner dressed up in what her daughter described as “the big skirts with the crinolines.”

Later, Mr. Wagoner and his wife would host parties at their farmhouse, where his father would play either the autoharp or fiddle and Mr. Wagoner would call a square dance.

“We’d have square dances right in the kitchen,” said Mrs. Gardineer.

Mr. Wagoner also joined the Adirondack Fiddlers Club and would play at different venues in the region. A social man, he was in a number of clubs including for hunting, bowling, and the Men’s Club of the Thompson’s Lake Reformed Church, which he attended. He never missed a party, picnic, or gathering, and loved to chat.

“If dad was here, he’d have a lot to say,” remarked Mrs. Gardineer. “He loved to talk to people.”

Mr. Wagoner used to spend his winters driving a team of horses on a sleigh through the snow when he was young. In the 1960s, as snowmobiles became popular, he and his family found a better way to travel and a way to spend the cold nights.

“We had something to do in the winter,” explained Mrs. Gardineer.

“We would ride out onto the countryside at night through the snow in the light of the moon,” she continued. A trip often included a stop at the Shell Inn for a pizza.

Mr. Wagoner also enjoyed camping as well as hunting and fishing.

“He’d try everything,” said his daughter, recalling how he once got a pony after seeing harness-racing, and rode up and down the road in a cart pulled by the pony before letting his children try. He also enjoyed seeing wrestling either on television or live at the Armory in Albany.

Mr. Wagoner’s roots go far back in the Hilltowns. He could recall for his children how his grandfather showed him the places where his great-great-grandfather fought in the Anti-Rent Wars in the mid-19th Century. But his family also expanded several generations more, and he loved to teach his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren how to do things, whether that was how to farm or how to ride a mini-bike.

“Earl taught us how important it is to work hard, but also to spend as much time with family and friends as you can in this life,” his family wrote in a tribute. “He lived life with a passion, and on his terms. He will be deeply missed by many, but his spirit lives on in his large and ever-growing family.”

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Mr. Wagoner is survived by his children, Dave Wagoner and his wife, Patty; Don Wagoner and Annie Moak; and Leila Gardineer and her husband, Raymond; his grandchildren, David Wagoner Jr. and his wife, Jennifer; Jon Wagoner and his wife, Dominica; Charles Wagoner and his wife, Nichole; Michelle Durocher-Thompson, Julie Massey and her husband, Steve; Lynnea Gardineer;  Adam Gardineer and his wife, Alicia; Nicole Wagoner and Chuck Hart; Don Wagoner Jr. and his wife, Katelyn.

He is also survived by his great-grandchildren, Owen Wagoner, Savannah and Alivia Wagoner, Casey and Austin Wagoner, Elizabeth and James Wagoner, Aaron and Megan Thompson, Brianna Massey, Evie Gardineer, Mason Hart, and Noah Wagoner; his great-great-grandchildren, Paisley Wagoner and Colton Wagoner; his brother, Orlo Wagoner and his wife, Sheila; his son-in-law, Robert Durocher; and his sister-in law, Alice Wagoner. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews.

His wife, Florence (née Olsmit) Wagoner, died before him, as did his daughter, Viola Durocher; his grandson, Timothy Wagoner; his parents, William and Clarissa (née Miller) Wagoner; his brothers Vernon Wagoner; Olin Wagoner and his sister-in-law Kathryn Wagoner.

Calling hours are Thursday, Nov. 1, from 4  to 7 p.m. at Fredendall Funeral Home, 199 Main St., Altamont, New York 12009. The funeral service is Friday, Nov. 2, at 10:30 a.m. followed by burial at the South Berne Rural Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to Thompson's Lake Reformed Church, Post Post, Box 94, East Berne NY 12059.

— H. Rose Schneider