It was a tradition that many of his closest friends relished: an annual wine and hors d’ oeuvres tasting event at Kurt Wagner’s house.
After Wagner succumbed to cancer at age 57 on April 13, 2012, fellow members of the South Kitsap Rotary and his friends brainstormed ways to maintain the event — and his legacy.
“He’s dearly missed,” said Rob Putaansuu, who helps coordinate the event. “It’s a fun group of people that come together to honor him in a wonderful way.”
That culminated in the “Wine with Wags” event, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at McCormick Woods. The event is $50 in advance — $60 at the door — with proceeds benefiting the Kurt Wagner Education Fund.
Seven wineries — Waterbrook, Canoe Ridge, Kyra Wines, Watermill, Mosquito Fleet, Scatter Creek Winery and Red Knot, along with Silver City Brewery and Heritage Distilling Company, will participate in the event.
Putaansuu said each attendee can sample as many as five beverages with their ticket and hors d’ oeuvres and also receive a commemorative glass.
As of Monday, Putaansuu said 120 tickets were sold. He said 200 paid for last year’s event.
“We had a pretty good rush last year during the last week,” Putaansuu said.
The charity assists four South Kitsap High School graduates with college scholarships and also provides funding to low-income students in South Kitsap School District’s elementary band to aid them with instrumental rental fees and those needing assistance with athletic fees at the high school. Putaansuu, who is a Rotarian, said the organization decided to assist with those needs because Wagner was passionate about both.
Wagner played the saxophone and volunteered at high-school track meets. He also ran track at Central Washington University.
Along with that, Putaansuu said they are looking to do more.
“Our goal is to raise $100,000 toward an endowment fund,” he said. “We’re currently standing at about $35,000. That’s pretty impressive for our second year. I’m confident we’re well on our way to our goal.”
This is the second year of the event. Putaansuu hoped to have the first event in 2012, but that was delayed.
“Unfortunately, shortly after he passed away we realized we knew nothing about how to put a wine-tasting event together,” he said.
The first event was last October, but Putaansuu said they moved this year’s date forward because many wineries are not able to participate during that time because they are busy with their crush.
In addition to the “Wine with Wags” event, Putaansuu said they have three “Wednesday Brew Nights” throughout the year. For more details on those, visit www.facebook.com/KurtWagnerEducationFund.
Wagner was South Kitsap School District’s deputy superintendent at the time of his death. He had an array of administrative duties, which included overseeing the district’s special-education, gifted and career-technical education programs.
Wagner also mentored a student through Peer Assistant Learning from East Port Orchard Elementary, where he was principal from 1995-2000 and began his career as a teacher there in 1980.
He also served as an administrator overseeing curriculum and instruction before becoming an assistant superintendent in 2002.
Between stints in SKSD — he took a sabbatical in 1987 to earn master’s and doctoral degrees from Washington State — he spent time in the Central Kitsap School District as an assistant principal and principal from 1991-95.
