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Thoughts from his brother:

I've read some of the other stories and it looks like I should share a little of the time during which I knew Warren before any other person now living knew him.

My first recollection that included him was in 1933 when we lived in South Gate, CA. I was only 4 years old. There was a terrible earthquake that year and I remember that Warren was in a baby buggy rolling back and forth across the room giggling. It was probably the beginning of his fascination with driving wildly.

There wasn't much of interest I can remember for the next few years until I was about 10 or 11 and he was three years younger (he always was). Our parents decided that at that time and since we were so well behaved, they could go out and leave me to baby-sit Warren. I don't know if it was my poor management skills or if he saw his chance but he became impossible for me to control. It reached the point that I had to retreat into and lock the bathroom so I wouldn't have to get physical with him. I knew if I did, the explanation our folks heard would be a little distorted, and I might be the bad guy. This experiment was tried several times always with the same results. Warren was a bit independent (surprise?).

The label "independent" also reminds me of another label: "gullible". I don't know if he didn't have any friends of his own when we were young or if he liked being with my (older) friends. On three different occasions my friends, not me of course, talked him into eating unusual things that made him sick. The first was a hand full of moths, the second was a whole garlic and the third was a whole onion. We were always fascinated that he would do it.

As we became a little older, I was just a young teenager, Warren used to embarrass me when I was at church visiting with friends by hanging around ALL the time and engaging in antics like licking his nose with his tongue, squeezing his ribs together on the sides which made his chest pop out about 3 inches and walking around between our legs doing the spider walk. He was a pest. He delighted in setting up situations where I looked like a bad guy with our parents and would be chastised. It was never anything serious.

Although we were both at Bell High School at the same time for 3 years, I don't remember any significant events that included him at school. It was during World War II, and our dad worked a graveyard shift. Mom worked in an office doing her part for the war effort. Because she suffered from severe asthma, she had a hard time sleeping and would not get up until after we went to school and dad wouldn't be home yet. The effect was that I would get up, build a fire in the fireplace, get Warren up, fix breakfast and get us both off to school. Strange as it may seem, it worked very well and Warren and I had no difficulty. I guess we both grew up pretty fast during that time. We made it work very well. We both prepared the evening meals and cleaned up afterward during the week until the war was over.

In 1945 I think, our folks bought a lot in the mountains near Crestline in the San Bernardino Mountains on which we would build a cabin. At the beginning of the summer in 1946, Warren and I pitched a tent on the property and spent five days a week alone trying to prepare the ground for building. We worked hard and also had a lot of fun together. We were continually improvising and developing "comforts" and ways to do things better. We cooked on a Coleman stove and had a Coleman lantern and had Dad bring us a copper coil and a plumber’s torch from which we built a heated shower.

We dug lots of dirt trying to get the lot level and ran into a rock, that when we tried to dig around it, discovered it was a major boulder that we would never be able to get under or move. We walked into the village and asked around and someone said there was a man at the end of Sawpit Canyon with a bulldozer that might help us. We walked the two miles back and then about another four miles to the home of the bulldozer guy. He was so surprised to see us that he agreed to come see what he could do the next day. The next morning we heard the bulldozer coming a long way off and got worried because we never talked about the cost and we didn't have any money. He looked at what we had run into and said he would have to go way down to get under the boulder and it would lower the building site several feet. We didn't know what to do, so we told him we wouldn't have any money until our dad came on Saturday and he said that would be OK. It ended up that he lowered the site five feet before he got the boulder out and leveled the ground ready to put in the foundation. Dad couldn't believe his eyes when he came and saw it. The bulldozer guy never did charge us anything. With the help of lots of friends we built the cabin from then through the next summer.

When Bonnie and I were married in 1950 and I was in college in San Jose, Warren came to visit us. He had just graduated from high school. Our relationship was different starting then, as I look back. We were closer and not competitive anymore. He went into the army right after that and our lives were pretty divergent after that for many years. When we did see each other, we had warm feelings, although we would fight over Mother’s pickled figs! We never lived in the same place again.

We had occasional visits during the years Warren and Donna were married and Brian and Barry were children. After that, there were a few years of very little contact. When Warren and Lu were married, we began to visit more often. We had a chance to get acquainted with his new family and realize how loving and devoted he was to Lu and the children. The relationship he had with them and us really became close during these last years and Warren and I became "Bruggers" as he always called me.

It's been an interesting relationship and one filled with lots of memories and love. His passing has brought back many things that happened that I hadn't thought of until now. I'll miss him very much but he has left a wonderful legacy.

Roger Waite

He sang in the Downey Methodist choir in the 60's. There was a time Jay remembers when Warren put his shoeless foot up on the railing in front of the choir loft and one of his toes was sticking out of the sock for all to see. He felt very independent about putting up with a sermon if he didn't want to hear it. The minister wasn't too happy to have him walk out. He was his own man.

Jay and Marge Barnings

He had such a sense of humor! We met him back in the 70's with the "Downey Revelaires." He came to our home on Monday nights for quartet practice.

Several years ago we formed a pinochle club with the Barnings, Stakelbacks, Waites and Jones. Warren would stop by our home for a game of cribbage on our patio. His famous words were, "It doesn't get any better than this." We will surely miss him.

Bill and Dorothy Jones

The one story that always sticks out in my mind is Lori & Efren's wedding day.

It was just thirty minutes before the start of the wedding, and of course there was a lot of tension and stress in the air. Lori was concerned about her hair and makeup, and whether or not Efren was going to show. You know, the normal wedding day jitters.

Finally, Lori is ready to be escorted down the aisle by the suave and debonair Warren Dale Waite. As she walks into the foyer of the church to greet her daddy and prepare for her final walk as a "single" woman, what does she see? Ah, there he is. That handsome man, with his silver hair combed to perfection. That ever-present smile adding just the right touch to that sharp gray tuxedo, and then to top it off, those fabulous size 13 red-clown tennis shoes...what a picture!

Warren responds,"They didn't have any rental shoes in my size. Are these okay?"

Is it not like Warren to defuse a tense and stressful situation with that droll sense of humor he has? Don't you just love him? He continued to wear those shoes for years, I'm sorry to say. And yes, Efren did show up at the wedding.

---

The goofy eyeglasses Warren always picked out:

I would ask him, "What made you pick out these glasses?" His standard reply...."I picked a pair, put them on, could see through them and they were comfortable. What else do you need?"

"How 'bout a little style? ...Just a little." I replied.

His standard reply, "I don't have to look at myself in these glasses. That's everybody else's problem."

---

My Father's Day Trip to Stateline: Warren loved rollercoasters and to gamble ($3 tables only, of course). So with Mom's help, I arranged to kidnap him at 3 a.m. and he and I set off for a day-trip to Stateline for Blackjack and riding "The Desperado", ...oh, and Carl’s Junior's Steak Sandwiches too. What a day to remember.

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The era of the sitcom "Happy Days", and Warren's impression of "The Fonz" with his stubby thumb. He was always the first one to make fun of not only his thumb, but of himself too!

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The trip Warren, Mom, Kelley, Lori and I took up North to visit Grandma and Grandpa. On the way home, we suffered from transmission problems, had to get the truck towed in to town, and we all followed in a cab. While Warren was preparing the car for tow, we sat in the cab waiting for Warren. The cab driver could see that Warren was with our party, but thought he was riding with the tow truck. After waiting patiently for a few minutes, wondering what the hold up was, the cab driver turned to Mom and asked, "Is your father going to join us?" We never let Warren forget that... although this cab driver wasn't the only one who thought Warren was Mom's dad instead of the hubby!

---

Warren's infamous menu concoction: Peanut butter, mustard and horseradish sandwiches. He found it didn’t work with sardines though.

Lisa Gray

I'll never forget my wedding day and as my daddy did all he could to calm me down before the "walk down the aisle".

I remember telling Warren how nervous I was and I'm just not ready to do this. Although it was time, and many people were waiting. Lisa and Kelley had already made their walk and Warren just reassured me, "you can do it."

He took my arm and wrapped it in his and told me, "I'll be right here beside you every step of the way. We're gonna do this together." Then he looked at me and told me how proud he was of me and again like so many times in my life, he told me how much he loved me.

He walked me to the back of the doors and asked if I was ready. I nodded and he nodded for the doors to open. All the way down that aisle, he softly talked to me and calmed me by telling me that all these people were here for me because they love me. He pointed out people as we walked by them, "Look, there's Paul and Verna, Ed and Dort, Carmen, Alice. All these people are here for you. Then he looked at the front of the church where Efren was standing and said, ...and look, there's Gonz.

Thanks Warren for getting me through that moment and making such a precious memory of that day...and thanks for always being by my side every step of the way for all the other walks in my life. I could have never have asked for a better Dad. I love you!

Lori Salgado

When we had the market in Lakewood in the early 70s and it was pouring down rain, we had a lot of leaks in the roof. Warren came over in a downpour, got on the roof and patched it. He did a lot of projects like that for us. We could always count on him.

Ed Brickman

At Lori and Efren’s wedding, Warren introduced Ed to someone: "This is Ed, he’s my best friend. He’s also married to my ex-wife. Of course, he didn’t become my best friend until he married my ex-wife."

In the early 90's the choir presented a Christmas program called the Boar's Head Festival. Both Lu and Warren were involved. Lu helped with the draping of yards of fabric in the sanctuary.

Warren and I were putting up the dangling streamers on the poles at each column. We were using a flimsy tall aluminum ladder. I suggested I climb the ladder and Warren hold it. There was less chance of me falling with Warren holding the ladder than vice versa. I don't know how we would have explained these two senior citizens falling in the pews.

When we remodeled the choir room to improve the acoustics, there was lots of work making the attenuators to hang on the wall. Warren was a great help but please don't try to give him a paintbrush to work with. That was a BIG no-no.

We could always count on Warren to keep the mood light when we took our rehearsal too seriously. Many are the times just one or two words would have us all smiling or giggling over a difficult phrase in the music.

Warren, we LOVE you lots.

Norma Casford

Warren’s definition of an expert: "In math, x is an unknown quantity. And a spurt is a drip under pressure.

When Brian and Barry were babies, he was the one who got up in the night to change their diapers or feed them.

Warren supported himself in college playing piano in a bar and playing clarinet in a dance band. He was studying zoology.

The name for one of his dogs almost got him in trouble. Azol could be pronounced a number of ways. His preferred pronunciation was not exactly polite. Whenever his mother came over, everyone had to make sure to call the dog Ayzol with a long A sound. He named his next dog Barf and his boxer of course became Joe Boxer. Even if those dogs drove everyone else nuts, he loved them dearly.

Warren’s feet were an amazing size 12 ½ AAA with a quad-A heel. He never got a pair of shoes that really fit.

In the car on the way over to visit Warren several weeks ago, several of us from FUMC Chancel Choir were telling one of our new members about Warren's usual greeting to new choir members..."Oh, I didn't recognize you with your clothes on!" "Really?", she said, finding that hard to believe.

After we arrived, we roared with laughter when we introduced her to Warren and, as if cued, he said... (You got it)..."I didn't recognize you with your clothes on!"

Rita Murray

Before we write an anecdote about Warren, we would like to comment on an as aspect of his life that we find remarkable. Years ago, Warren changed his vocation and earned less money in order to work at something that would benefit his fellow man. This was extremely important to him so he became an excellent orthotist. Rather than keeping air conditioners working for man's comfort, he made devices that enabled his patients to lead better and more productive lives. This is just one indication of what a loving and giving person he is.

Anecdote:

After undergoing a lengthy and painful reconstruction of his thumb, he found a way to use it for amusement purposes. He would stand or sit unobtrusively at a party with his hands folded in his lap so that his stubby thumb jutted forward. We enjoyed standing behind him, watching the double takes and momentary disbelief that flitted across the faces of the other people at the party. Warren wore an innocent smile throughout.

Bob and Seward Clark

Until he went to Korea in the war, he always ate steaks well done like his mother made them. A sergeant offered him a rare one. Dad said he liked them cooked. The sergeant replied he cooked them rare. After that, he always asked for rare steaks. His mother thought it was disgusting!

That steak was one of the few things he would discuss about Korea. He hated talking about his wartime experiences. A large number of his high school classmates died in the war.

Warren was known as the human garbage can. In his younger days, he would finish whatever everyone else left on their plates.

I would need a whole book to describe Warren. He was such a treasure. Having him for a neighbor in Downey was delightful, so many FUNNY things. But all I will add right now is that he was a JOY to go shopping with!

Muriel Alice and Jakie Feenstra

He didn’t seem to like my coffee cake one Sunday. I can’t imagine why, doesn’t everyone like coffee cake made with salt instead of sugar?

Warren, Granny and Grandpa Waite asked me to make a gooseberry pie for them. They certainly were startled to see that it was bright green. When you make cherry pie, you add red coloring, so wouldn’t you add green coloring when you make gooseberry pie. In spite of the color, they agreed it was delicious.

Donna Bartlett

As a child, he ate all the baby carrots out of the school garden. The teacher asked him why he did it. "I was hungry," he replied.

When he was about nine, he told his school there was no food at home and they had even had to bury his mother in the backyard. The school sent the Red Cross to help out the situation. They arrived to find his mother alive and well, although mortified by her son’s story. Why did he do it? He was hungry.

The neighbors down the street in Downey had a pool. Their new puppy fell in. Fully clothed, Warren immediately jumped in to save it. As he swam to it, the puppy swam to the other side and climbed out.

At our wedding, he and Ed lit the candles. One of Ed’s wouldn’t light at first. As they walked back down the aisle, he said (loudly of course), "I did a better job than you did!" It was so handy to have all my dads get along so well!

In the mid-60’s, Dad would often buy donuts on Sundays. Mom and I would have a couple. Dad and Brian would have at least three each. I never could eat three donuts at one sitting.

When I had had a particularly bad day and was tired of hearing platitudes, I called Dad and said, "Promise me a rose garden." He said, "Okay, I promise you a rose garden." Then I said, "Tell me life is fair." He replied, "Okay, life is fair." Now, no one can tell me, "No one ever promised you a rose garden," or "No one ever said life was fair." My dad did!

The only place he was ticklish was his feet. Brian and I, and later the stepsiblings and grandchildren too, would try to hold him down to get his feet. It was a losing battle for us. The cat, Charlie Brown, once licked dad’s foot while he was asleep. The 20-pound Charlie Brown went flying across the room as Dad’s foot instinctively shot out. The cat never did that again.

Barry Waite

People were amazed and often perplexed by Warren’s extended family. Grandma Waite would say, "What a queer, queer family." He would reply, "Mother, I wish you wouldn’t put it that way."

As a young man, Warren had a job with an animal importer in Bell. One day, he was playing with a Himalayan sun bear. This was a regular part of his work, and the public would often watch these sessions. The bear accidentally bit him on the stomach. To avoid scaring the crowd, he kept playing with the bear, although the bite was fairly serious. He carried the scar the rest of his life.

At Easter time in 1965, the family took a trip to the Salton Sea. While water skiing, he got his arm caught in the towrope. He managed to get it almost off him when it snapped his thumb off. He actually drove home to Los Angeles following the incident. The doctor who did the reconstructive surgery, Frank Schiller, convinced him he was wasting his talent working in air conditioning. That accident sent him on the path to becoming an orthotist.

During the remodel of the kitchen in South Gate, Warren had mono and was very sick. Lu and Barry were using a sledgehammer to gently knock out the tile and cabinets. He pulled himself out of bed and saw the slow progress. He took the sledgehammer, took one good whack on a cabinet, handed the hammer back and said, "Hit it hard." After that, Lu and Barry had a lot more fun knocking down cabinets in a very ungentle way.

At the time of the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, Warren lived in a house with a pool right by his front door. During the earthquake, he heard a knocking at the door. He opened the door to find it was the pool knocking. It came in.

Warren had a knack for showing up at just the right time when I was having troubles. He would stop by the shop for no apparent reason and say, "Got any coffee, Sis?" Then he’d sit and listen. He was always there to lend an ear for me.

Betty Pierce, Sister-in-law

On Sunday mornings, he would have coffee on the porch with Lisa and mingle with the dogs. No matter how cold it was, he would be barefoot.

He used to do a dinnertime routine with Brian and Barry when they were young. He would turn into a French chef and make a big show out of mixing oil and vinegar for the salad. It delayed dinner greatly every time, but it was worth it.

Warren’s code name for cheese: fungus.

Warren battled Lu’s teddy bear, positioning Teddy in all sorts of awful ways. He once put Teddy on the ceiling fan.

Plumbing? No problem. Wiring? Done in a flash. Painting? Wouldn’t do it.

As they drove through the Wine Country on one of their rare vacations, Warren was asleep in the camper. As Lu was driving up the hill outside St. Helena, they got a flat tire. She woke him from his sound sleep; he sat up and said, "Wow, what a beautiful place to have a flat tire!"

In the 1960's we had a pinochle club. We played once a month at each of the four couples’ homes. Our kids would play until they were tired and then we put them to bed in one big bed. That's when they were pretty young.

We went to Tahoe and we invited Warren and Lu, but you said you could not go. Then the next morning we saw you driving on Highway towards Tahoe. You and Lu ditched work and were going to meet us there anyway. We had a room with two queen-sized beds. You guys slept in the one nearest the mirrored doors and you held up a blanket and said don't look because you did not wear any PJ's. We waited and waited for you to get into bed. Laughing I told you about the mirror behind you. You jumped in bed quickly, and I said that your PJ's were wrinkled. That was a great trip.

Of course, we've had all the great trips to Arroyo Grande. The time we ate in the restaurant and Peggy couldn't get over the fact you ate a raw roast, big enough for 5 people.

It was fun when you came to our 25th anniversary and sang, with Paul, in the Barbershop quartet. It was the highlight of the day. The quartet was very good. Paul had a wonderful experience while he sang in the Downey Revelaires with you, thanks for asking him to join.

We played pinochle many times and I always dealt the cards wrong and you never got mad, only was surprised that they came out equal. Sometimes when we were partners we even won. I think the last time we played we won.

In August of this year (2000) we celebrated our 43rd anniversary and you and Lu were there again. In fact you took us to the Medieval- Times. We had a wonderful night.

Paul wanted you to go out with Lu. One night when we had a social at Maywood Church, Paul asked you to talk to Lu. That led to our many years of pinochle at the Batavia house. We were very glad you got married, at last.

Last New Years, we had a great millennium party. We really greeted year in 2000. I think it was the best party of all. We’re glad you and Lu were there.

Verna and Paul Noble

He slept right through the car crashing into the neighbor’s house, someone trying to steal Kelley’s car and other loud noises, but he always heard it if one of the kids coughed or needed him.

When done a favor, especially getting his coffee refilled in a restaurant without asking, he would say, "I take back everything bad I said about you."

In the early-70s, he had a Volkswagen that he had to push-start every morning. One day, it got away from him. He chased it down the street and finally caught it.

Vincent Price had a traveling art show in the 50s. Warren was his driver and thought Vincent Price was very nice.

Warren never lived in a house that was really finished. There was always a major project planned or underway.

Warren’s parents got him reading early in life. He would memorize Bible stories. His mother would have him do the "It pays to enrich your word power" section of the Readers Digest. He loved reading. Louis Lamour was one of his favorite writers.

When his mother, Loretta, was fading quickly, the whole family was called to her bedside. She was in a coma and not expected to last the night. He and Roger found an old hymnal to serenade her. The room was very poorly lit, and neither of them had his glasses. They moved the hymnal back and forth trying to find a proper focal distance as they sang. After a while, she began to murmur something. Finally, it became clear she was saying, "You don’t know the words." It was a stinging indictment. She started to sing along, knowing every song by heart. She then woke up fully and even ate dinner! She lasted almost three months longer. Music and games kept her going.

As a boy, Warren tried hitch hiking once. Who should stop to pick him up but his mother? She was not at all happy with her son that day.

From his work at Rancho Los Amigos, Warren was quite familiar with the mannerisms of severely mentally handicapped people. At the grocery store, he would follow Lu around walking strangely, making faces and talking strangely. Lu pretended she didn’t notice him. Lisa refused to go to the grocery store anymore.

On his last birthday, he was visiting one of the clinics he worked with. They toasted his birthday that day with Ensure.

Saturday Mornings at Marsden’s with Warren –

Saturday mornings really started around Thursday afternoon with a phone call from Warren wanting to know who was coming to see him – then immediately changing the subject to who was bringing J&K Donuts? Winchell’s was never allowed! Coffee needed to be smelled as soon as Warren entered the door. Then there was the job of protecting and hiding Warren’s special donuts from everyone at Marsden’s. Between seeing patients, drinking coffee, eating donuts, playing solitaire on the computer and hiding at Doc’s downstairs for a smoke, Warren had very busy Saturday mornings.

And how could we forget the jokes! Always a great joke! Of course, we can’t repeat them, but how Warren could tell a joke and make us laugh!

When we think of Warren, we think of all the fun and love he gave us. Always positive and up, always supportive and caring. What a pleasure and honor it is for us to have shared our lives with him. Warren was a wonderful friend to all of us, and we will miss him.

Chuck, Roberto, Kristy, Vesta, Doc and Emma

I can still remember clearly the first day I met Warren. It was June 1, 1998, my second day on the job at Ortho Engineering. My father had passed away two months prior of me starting the job. We started talking about ourselves and family and he asked about my father. Needless to say, I cried like a baby in his arms, and he comforted me. He said, "He’s in a better place – feeling no pain and is watching over you and your two little ones". So now I know my father has a new friend with him and together they are watching over all their loved ones.

Warren was someone you could talk to and spill your guts out to; someone who would put a smile on your face with his jokes. I enjoyed hearing his stories about his life with his wife, his children, grandchildren, and the military.

There is only one thing that I won’t miss about Warren, and that was his "pull the finger game". I’m sure I’ll think of him when my son does it.

There were times he would sit on my chair and I would have to scratch and rub his back until he purred like a kitty cat. When he was good and ready he would then get up and go to someone else’s chair, and the cycle repeated.

Warren has touched my life and will be missed dearly. He’ll always have a special place in my heart.

Michele Cortina

Ortho Engineering

Warren, my Papa:

I started working here at Ortho Engineering five years ago when I met Warren. My first feeling was that he was very kind and loving to everybody and he had the ability to listen to everything you have to say. The feeling he gave me made me call him "Papa", and he was like a father to everybody.

Every time he sat with me I would get my lotion and rub his arms. He had very dry skin, and while I had his arm, I would play with his elbow’s loose skin that would stay in shape when you pulled on it and I would flip it back and forth.

He loved to have his back rubbed, and he would fall asleep if you did it long enough. I made comments on his shoe size and I’d say he would have no problem wearing a clown’s shoe.

Warren is the best cook when it comes to barbecue. When we had the plan for the office luncheon, he would volunteer to provide us with barbecue meat, which would excite us all. He would bring his barbecue grill from home and go shopping for the best meat and buns and make the best hamburgers you’ve ever had, and be so generous with everything.

Warren is one in a million, and so unique that you can’t help but love him. I love him so dearly that I can’t love my own father as much. He will always be in my heart, and I will always think of him as my Papa and best friend.

Roya Farr

Ortho Engineering

Losing Warren is a great loss to our team at the Hansen’s Clinic, and I’ve lost a dear, dear friend. He used to get me a cup of coffee while he got one for himself. Then he’d ask me to pick a color from the brown spots on his arm as the shade of coffee I’d like when he adds the cream to it.

We miss him dearly. I know that I’ll see him again in our Heavenly home.

Dr. Helen Kuo

Hansen’s Clinic at USC

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Last updated 07/14/01