Bettye Stover Wagner passed away on January 25, 2024. She was 87. Preceded in death by her loving husband John, she rejoined him 65 years and one day after they were first united in marriage.
Bettye was one of five children of the late Reverend CL Stover and Virginia Hendrix Stover, and as a preacher’s kid, made many places throughout Alabama her home. It was while she was living in Mobile when she and John first met on a blind date. After they married, Bettye and John moved to Georgia and settled in the Atlanta area where they raised two children, John Jr. and Heidi.
Bettye, who had been passionate about interior design since childhood — when she preferred creating floor plans for her dolls over playing with the dolls themselves — took the same care in decorating five different homes that she and John shared in Georgia. The last of these was built to showcase early American antiques Bettye had begun collecting and selling at shows and in a shop with partners in Marietta. It wasn’t long before she opened “The Antique Store of Marietta” where her love of antiques and design merged. “Bettye Wagner American Country” served clients throughout the Southeast, with her work appearing in countless magazines and books. Her deep knowledge of period antiques was renowned across the antiques world and earned the trust of serious collectors from all over the country.
In the mid1990s, Bettye and John embarked upon a new adventure together, restoring the 1834 Green Pryor Rice house in Somerville, Alabama. John’s own love of history and skilled handiwork had always dovetailed beautifully with Bettye’s pursuits and the restoration of the Virginia tidewater-style home was a joint labor of love for the couple. Nicknamed “The Brick,” the finished result became the ultimate expression of Bettye and John’s shared vision and provided the perfect backdrop for Bettye’s carefully curated collection of period antiques, family Christmases, open houses, tea parties and firefly catching with their grandchildren. Having devoted her life to making things beautiful, Bettye continued to sell and decorate for clients until just a few years ago. More recently, she lived in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
She is survived and desperately missed by son John Wagner, Jr. (Rebecca) of Sheffield, AL, daughter Heidi Dangremond (Mark) of Providence, RI, grandson Daniel Wagner (Natalie), of Mentor, OH, granddaughter Megan Wagner of Sheffield, AL, grandson Jared Dangremond of New York, NY, granddaughter Sydney Dangremond of Atlanta, GA, and great grandson Maddox Hurt of Sheffield, AL. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to The American Cancer Society.
