Wayne: born 1918 died 1989 married ______ (Olla Bell Gower)

My (Bryson) earliest memories of him is his car, an old Pontiac that was being used as a chicken coop before Wayne dragged it home, cleaned it up and got it running and a Harley (twin) washing machine he built for mother. Some kind sole gave mom a Maytag. problem was it was electric and we didn't  electricity. Luckily Wayne happened to have a Harley twin motor. After he cobbled that motor up to that washer wash day was a real event at our house. Mom didn't know how to start or stop it so one of the boys would get running and it would go till it ran out of gas. It made a hideous noise, scared the crap out of me.   Wayne got infant tile paralysis when he was very young. It’s called Polio now but it was “infant tile paralysis” when he and F.D. R. had it. He finished high school on crutches. Not only did he finish highest (valedictorian) he was the only one smart enough to take a higher math class (I’m guessing calculus) so the principle had to teach a class of one in his office. He won a scholarship to Michigan State but he had to drop out after the first year because there just wasn’t enough money. The scholarship paid the tuition but no other expenses housing, books, food, etc.

Wayne could do just about anything he wanted as far as making a living but he always ended up working on cars (gear head). Wayne loved cars, once when he was at our house the neighbor drove past in his Buick. Wayne gave him a dirty look and when he came back by he waved him down. “I can’t stand hearing a car running like that, pull it in here!” He opened the hood and in nothing flat had it fixed. Talk about impressed; the neighbor (George Kroshell) had stumped every mechanic in the area with his car. I remember Wayne living in Detroit and coming home on holidays. On Easters he and my big brother George would make a big commotion trying to break a raw egg on each others head, for some reason they thought this was hilarious.

I think he was involved in racing (midgets) I remember him talking about cutting a Miller V8 in half to make a V4. I have no idea what a Miller V8 was but apparently it was a twin cam because I remember him saying it was a bitch to time. He had a lot of racer friends. I (Bryson) remember them sitting around B.S.ing and showing off scars they had got racing.

In 1944 a doctor told him he had T.B. and he should move to Arizona. Problem, 1944 was right in the middle of WWII and no way could he get from Michigan to Arizona on an A gas stamp. Solution, Wayne cobbled up an extra gas tank in his 41 Chevy and Mel our farmer brother in law filled it with tractor gas (exempt).

Wayne bought a business in Phoenix, auto repair of course. The deal was all of the regular customers were to come with the business. Trouble was there weren’t any regular customers. Luckily Wayne had a huge following but his old boss wouldn’t tell them where he’d gone. Eventually they found him so Wayne’s Auto Electric got started in spite of mom sending me out to Phoenix for Wayne to straighten out.

Once time an old Indian chief (Wayne’s old friend) brought his 41 Plymouth in with a bad starter. The chief chewed tobacco and spit on the floor. Now nobody wanted to crawl under there and pull that starter off so we had a big discussion, guess who crawled under.

Then there was the time a new (1951) Oldsmobile came in for a tune-up. The car was to race so it was in the middle of being made into a racecar. All of the glass & upholstery was gone and there was a sturdy looking seat welded up out of tubing with the 4-link seat belt attached. When Wayne got it tuned of course he had to road test it. Well the first part of the test went ok but he had to make a left on busy 7^th Ave.  That Wayne’s Auto Electric was on, so when he saw an opening he punched it, hard. The next thing he knew he was going ass over teakettle into the trunk (nobody told him the seat wasn’t attached). When he crawled back up and got hold of the steering wheel he said the roaring (open headers) Olds was headed for a saucer eyed lady driver.

Wayne died of a cancer in the prostate in 1989

 Told ya us Bennett's started smoking early

 Lost in thought..... Probably trying to figure a way to escape

 school pictures . Let's see, he was born in 1918 that would make him 11 here.

So then this would be...... older.

This is a postcard postmarked New York, N. Y. April 13, 1943.

Wayne wrote:

Sorry I couldn’t make it Sunday. See you next week

                                                             W.B.

Ola belle, Wayne Jr., Wayne

 He had a way with animals.

This is the 1941 chevy he drove out to Phoenix from Michigan.

A 1939 Ford, that was almost new than. This looks like he just got out to phoenix if so the war was still going , no new cars so that Ford is as new as you could get. Check out those complicated machines HAH, little more than big vacuum  gages & tachometers on roll-around stands

Wayne's obituary as printed in the Monroe Evening News, a Michigan paper.