Wagnon, Joan Davis, 1940-

<p>Joan was born and raised in Texarkana, growing up on Stateline Avenue, the oldest daughter of Jack and Louise Lucas Davis. Her mother was a native of Texarkana, Texas, and her father grew up on the Arkansas side. Members of her family are longtime owners of the Pump House. Joan and her younger sister, Sue, attended Arkansas schools. Joan joined Brownie Troop #40 at the age of 7 while a second grader at Fairview Elementary School. Mrs. Dolly Bennett was her troop leader, and the young girls formed early friendships through Scouting and have remained good friends throughout the years.</p>

<p>After graduating from AHS in 1958, Joan attended Hendrix College in Conway and graduated With a degree in biology in 1962. She became a senior research assistant in the Neurology Department at UAMS in Little Rock. Joan was a leader of Troop #122 while there. Afterward, she and her husband, Bill, moved to Columbia, Missouri, where he was a history professor at the University of Missouri. She also was a leader there and enjoyed teaching her Scouts a variety of skills such as canoeing and camping, while traveling to many different locations.</p>

<p>Joan and Bill then moved to Topeka, Kansas, where he began teaching at Washburn University.In 1968, she started a Senior Girl Scout troop there Which consisted of high school students who traveled to Mexico one year. Joan became very active in the local Kaw Valley Council and eventually served as president from 1995-2001. She and Bill raised their two sons, Jack and William, while she served as executive director of the Topeka YWCA for 13 years. Joan was elected to the Kansas State Legislature in 1982 and served until 1994. She was elected mayor of Topeka in 1997 and led the city until 2001. She entered banking for several years, and in 2003, was appointed by then-Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius to serve as the Secretary of Revenue, where she remained until 2011. Her continuous service to Girl Scouts moved her from her local council to the National Board in 2005.</p>

<p>Joan Wagnon is a retired American politician.</p>

<p>Wagnon was a Kansas state representative from 1983 to 1995, leaving her seat to run in the 1994 Democratic gubernatorial primary where she finished second in a field of five. She was the Mayor of Topeka from 1997 to 2001, the city's first female mayor. She was the Secretary of Revenue from January 13, 2003, until January 2011. She served as the chair of the Kansas Democratic Party from 2011 to 2015, a then 70-year-old grandma, and rebuilding it from an electoral calamity it suffered in 2010, while substantially expanding the use of information technology in its efforts.</p>

<p>Political Science Professor Burdette Loomis of the University of Kansan said, "Brownback has provided lots of ammunition, but Joan is a tough cookie. She didn't have to do this job, but she did, and she's worked very, very hard and hired the right people to get the party going in the right direction."</p>