Saint Paul Roots
Like Wilder, the Nagels have deep Saint Paul roots. John was raised in the Highland Park neighborhood; Renee in the Como Park area. The two met at a street dance at the Como Park Pavilion in 1957. John and a friend asked Renee and two of her friends to go for a drive. They formed an immediate connection and dated for five years before marrying in 1962. By then, John had graduated from Macalester College and was starting military service as an officer in the Navy. Renee worked as a nurse, and became a full-time homemaker when their two children were born.
John’s career in business began when he started one of the first coin-operated car washes in the Twin Cities. He and Renee managed the car wash for three years while John worked at 3M. He later worked at General Mills, and then started a 30-year career at Carlson Companies where he held several executive positions.
Gift Inspired by a Surprise Wilder Connection
The Nagels’ charitable legacy includes a planned gift they established at Wilder in 2000 after discovering a surprising connection. John joined Wilder’s Board of Directors after being nominated by another board member, and didn’t think he had any other connections to the organization.
Imagine John’s surprise when he learned that Wilder’s influence in his family went back decades. During a Board meeting, John heard a presentation about Wilder’s residential services for children, including a partnership with an orphanage serving St. Paul families. Board members passed around an historic register with records of children who had stayed in the orphanage from the 1880s to the 1920s.
John was stunned to see his father’s name in the register: “Harry Nagel, age 6 1/2,” along with his father’s twin brother and their older sister. John recalled that his father and his siblings spent time at an orphanage after John’s grandfather died and his grandmother could not afford to care for her children until she remarried a year later. The three children were reunited with their mother, having benefitted from stable and compassionate care during the time she was getting back on her feet financially.
The discovery inspired John and Renee to create The Harry T. and Helen I. Nagel Children’s Fund endowment at Wilder in his parents’ honor. The Nagel Children’s Fund is one of more than 50 endowments that support Wilder’s mission, and has distributed thousands of dollars to benefit children and families receiving mental health services at Wilder.
“Renee and John have lived their lives dedicated to their family – from John’s parents, to their kids and their grandchildren,” says Anne Rodenberg, director of major gifts and planned giving at Wilder. “It’s only fitting that their endowment supports children and families at Wilder."
