Wayne Wright

TRAVERSE CITY — Wayne Raymond Wright, of Traverse City, passed away on Thursday morning, Sept. 26, 2013, at the age of 68, ending his courageous fight with cancer. Wayne was born Dec. 30, 1944, in Highland Park, one of six children born to the late Charles Floyd Wright and Wilma (Butler) Wright.

Wayne was a hard working man who provided for his young, growing family after graduating from Garden City High School.

He worked at Ford Motor Co. on their production lines but had always dreamed of a life farther north; he fulfilled that dream in the early ‘70s when he moved his family to the Traverse City area. He gained employment at Shell Oil in Kalkaska as a plant operator and purchased a piece of land on Indian Lake in Traverse City, where he built his own home.

Wayne had many unique talents, being able to work on and fix or repair most anything in the home or on a car, etc., and was exceptionally good at working pieces of wood into beautiful handcrafted treasures.

Wayne always maintained his trademark sense of humor and enjoyed simple things in life, laughter, fishing, gardening and “Good Food” with friends and family. He enjoyed his getaways to the casino and was a huge (Tigers) baseball fan.

Wayne is survived by and leaves behind his brothers, Charles, Dale and Gary; and his sisters, Beverly and Ann. Wayne also leaves his longtime companion, Rita Cole, with whom he made his home for over 30 years; his four loving children of whom he was so very proud, Kimberley (Wright) Velky and her husband, John, David Wright and his wife, Cindy, Thomas Wright and Cari (Wright) Fasel and husband, Scott; and nine grandchildren, Mathew, Andrew, Rebecca, Paul, Randy, Lindsay, Julia, Jacob and Nathan. Wayne also leaves many other family members and friends. He will be missed and kept close in our hearts.

There are no funeral services taking place at Wayne’s request. A cremation has been arranged.

In lieu of flowers or donations, Wayne’s request is that you spend time with your family and have a BBQ picnic get-together with the ones you love and celebrate life!

Please visit www.lifestorynet.com to sign the guestbook and share a memory with his family.

The family chose Life Story Funeral Home, Traverse City, to handle the cremation.