Memorial
Christine Marie Waggoner, 73, of Cedar Rapids, passed away peacefully on June 23, 2026, from complications following several strokes. A celebration of life will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, July 17, 2026, at the Cedar Memorial Park Chapel of Memories.
Chris was born on November 6, 1952, and was raised in Central City, Iowa. She graduated from Central City High School and went on to earn her degree from Coe College. From there, she built a life in Cedar Rapids defined by a single, steady purpose: helping the people around her.
For many years, she owned and operated her own home cleaning business, taking quiet pride in her work and in the care she brought into other people's homes. Later in life, wanting to find a new way to serve others, she returned to school and earned her master's degree from the University of Northern Iowa, becoming a school counselor. As the guidance counselor at North Cedar High School for many years, she worked alongside a generation of young people, helping them find their footing, discover their strengths, and become who they hoped to be. Many of them carry her encouragement with them still.
Helping others was never a job to Chris because it was simply who she was. She lived for her family and friends, and there was nothing she would not do to support them. She had a gift for making the people around her feel seen, valued, and a little more capable than they had felt before. The lives she touched were made better for having known her, which is perhaps the truest measure of a life well lived.
She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Marilynn Waggoner and her brother-in-law Eric Hender.
Those who remain to mourn her passing and celebrate her life are her two children, Amanda (Jeremy) Kingery of Urbandale and Jacob (Jodi) Nelson of Marion; her three beloved grandchildren, Jasper, Cooper, and Hannah; her two siblings, John (Linda) Waggoner and Julie Hender; and many other relatives and friends whom she loved dearly.
In keeping with the way she lived, the family invites all who knew her to carry forward a little of her kindness and to help where they can, and to support one another in ways large and small.