R,I,P. Waukena

[marie3]

With a very heavy heart I am letting everyone know that Waukena passed away last night.
Anyone who is interested in the information on his funeral can contact me through here.

I got to know Wayne pretty well the past couple of years. He has been to my home and my family loved him. Whatever your feelings about him, I can tell you he was a great guy and a good friend to me. A very generous man.

[Frau_Blucher]

Wayne was special. We had our tussles, but it was because he was deeply true to himself and lived how he wanted and said exactly what he felt. I saw his generosity to many and was lucky to have met him on a couple of occasions. A character of grand proportions. I guess he wasn't likely to die old, and maybe he would have been okay with that. A real shock and real shame.

[WolverineSyr]

I was utterly floored when I heard about this earlier tonight. I know you were close to him Marie, and you were a great friend - as well as many others here.

I will miss him quite a bit. Occasionally people stroll through your life on boards like this and you make that good connection. I always felt like he was the type of guy you could hang out and talk with for hours. I'm so glad I was able to reconnect with him through facebook. His love of the music was always appreciated, as well as his sense of humor. That Doris Day inspired pic of him is legendary in my book.

I'm sad to see you go Wayne.

[phillyidol]

Hey Marie, thanks for posting this. It really was a shock to all of us.And like you said, like him or not he was one of the originals on this board and he will be missed. I like remembering the good things and funny stories about people. And Marie will remember he actually talked me out of hunting one of you on this board down. LOl. But I am much calmer now. You will be missed Wayne.[:(]




Worlds GREATEST Photographer!

[abacab66]

Privileged to have met him once. Learned a thing or two about Pat Metheny along the way. He will be missed.

[Cured]

Wakanuka was in Spize, and then Wakanuka was in NWO too

[hutter]

I'm sorry to hear this. Even when we disagreed on something he handled himself with class. RIP to a really nice guy.

[tiger_mn]

To honor Waukena, tomorrow I will adorn my pants with a party stain.

RIP, Wayne. You were a good guy and a good friend. Even if you freaked my son out with that tooth thing.

For some pics, go to www.unclewayne.com

[noodles]

So sad to hear.

Wayne always was good for baseball talk--he loved his Mets---and good for a Clash reference when you needed one. I'll never forget all the cd's he sent me or the great Clash vinyl he freely lent. The man was a gentlemen to the highest degree!

The good thing was that Wayne had a lot friends and he always left an impression.

I will miss you my friend--I am sorry that you never had the chance to take me up on the offer for Orioles tickets.

I hope you are enjoying things uptown at the big club!

budverge

[2Nu]

I consider myself indeed fortunate to have been in his company on several occasions. We shared a mutual fondness for aviation as well as NW music and our last get together took place appropriately so at the American Airpower Museum @Republic Airport last Memorial Day Weekend.
I was really looking forward to meeting up again especially after he graciously extended an invite to take a flight aboard a vintage B-17 that he had access to. Dude.. Too Soon.. Waay Too Soon
Peace Be With You..
<img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs503.ash1/29760_123668164330893_100000631291423_168448_6129429_n.jpg"></a>

[Frau_Blucher]

What a freaking character man. Well done. Well lived. Not to be trite but say hi to SaveTheWave.

To the good ole days...

<img src="http://blir.smugmug.com/photos/1120989587_qTvHE-O.gif">

<img src="http://blir.smugmug.com/photos/1120991719_2UZ9h-X3.jpg">

[i_like_lectric_motors]

Major fucking bummer. Wayne and I went far too long without really talking after some of the stupid board drama but had recently reconnected on Facebook. I'm glad we did. Man, you just never fucking know. [:(]

[MikeP]

Wow...I'm completely speechless...the wind is knocked out of me and my hands are shaking as I type. This is heartbreaking news. Wayne was the epitome of a kind-hearted soul wrapped in a burly bouncer's body. When Alina and I visited NYC during the holidays back in 2005, we had the most amazing NWO-NYC carpet treatment by you guys -- and Wayne was among you -- when we had dinner and saw that phenomenal Patti Smith concert at the Bowery Ballroom on her birthday. On New Year's Eve, we swung by the wine shop on Columbus Ave. where he was working and he generously hooked us up with some incredible vino and bubbly. What a saintly teddy bear. Here's a crappy cell phone pic of us shortly after our visit to the store on our way to our hotel 1 block off of Times Square as snow flurries engulfed us:
<img src="/images/photos/Mike & Alina in NYC (Dec 31, 2005).jpg"/>
We were so touched by his generosity and couldn't help but reciprocate by sending him a bottle of whiskey.

I recall his absence from the board and his eventual and thankful return after clearly a rough time in his life (never knew all the details), but regardless it was a pleasure reconnecting with him on FB as well ... we just chatted about Belgian/Dutch trance masters a couple weeks back!

Wayne: you were a true original -- we will never forget what a true and free-spirited gentleman you are. May your spirit be finally free...free to kick some ass and join in the great gig in the sky.

[kimiiii]

This is such sad news.

Because of this site, we knew this sweet man who survived his own trials and helped many, many other people through theirs. I'm so glad that I was able to meet him in Times Square five years ago and that we went on to share so much laughter (and an occasional cry).

Mike, you put it best with the description of him as "a kind-hearted soul wrapped in a burly bouncer's body."

I am doing everything I can to be there on Sunday. I want to tell my friend goodbye. I'm thankful to those NWOers who contacted me to tell me of his passing. I appreciate it.

***Until we meet at that great airshow in the sky, Waukena...***

[MikeP]

This one is for you, my brother:

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Maybe this song is about a break-up, but for me it's about loss: "when someone great is gone".

RIP Wayne "Waukena" Centabar