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Burial in the Danube
This is actually a story of a 50 year friendship. Wayne G. Smith was stationed at Tulln Air Base in 1946 where he met Annemarie who worked on the base and later for the American Embassy in Vienna. She is now a retired United States Government employee and lives in Langenlebarn, Austria. Annemarie later married and raised a family. Wayne went back to his home in Seaside, Oregon and worked in a movie theater, owned by another Tullnite, Urban G. Kershul. Later he opened a travel agency in California. Over the years Wayne and Annemarie maintained their friendship, and occasionally visited back and forth. The last few years of Waynes life, he was bound to a wheelchair, due to a stroke and loss of a leg. This did not dampen his spirits. He attended 3 or 4 of our reunions. Annemarie came over to visit and accompanied Wayne to the San Francisco reunion in 1994 and the San Antonio reunion in 1996. We will miss seeing Waynes smiling face in the future but he will be with us in spirit.
The rest of this story is in Annemaries own words, as written in a letter to me after Waynes burial.
" Many years ago Wayne told me about being scattered in the Danube. At that time I just told him, never tell me, I am 7 years older than you, and somebody has to take care, not me.
Since he had this in his last will, we had to do what he wished. It was a very hard thing, and, as you know, it is not legal in Austria to do this, but we did. My son found a little wooden platform in the water and *Steven, my son Kristian and I went there with the little box of ashes and two dozen roses. It is straight in the (air) line over the church to the base. It was 6:15 PM and the sun was still shining a little over the water. Kristian and Steven took turns to put his ashes in the water and I was sending the long stem roses one by one with him. And believe it or not, the roses came close together one after the other. It looked really so good and peaceful, that we all three thought: well that’s really what Wayne wanted. For Christmas we send a little Christmas tree fixed so it could swim, in the water. So that’s what I can tell you about that sad story. Annemarie Scheeed.
* Steven was Waynes business partner in the travel agency.
Compiled by Horace Ray 25 August 1998