Wayne Louthan

Wayne Louthan, 92, formerly of La Grande, died Sept. 25 from complications arising from heart disease.

A memorial service is being planned for a later date.

Wayne was born June 6, 1916, in Carthage, Mo. Due to a clerical error in the recording of his birth certificate, Wayne did not have a middle name. He was raised with his three brothers in Holdredge, Neb. While growing up he kept a pet prairie dog, survived a tornado, and spent a great deal of time playing on his father's threshing machine.

After graduating high school at age 16, he went into business with his father, combining grain under contract throughout the northern Midwest states. Due to the depression and the spreading dust bowl in the late 1930's, the family was forced to leave Nebraska. They made their way to Washington State; settling in the small town of Elma. Wayne and his father logged a half-section of timber for a number of years before taking a job with the Boeing Company in Seattle.

Just prior to the war Wayne met his future bride, Marie, on a blind date. He was working on the Boeing 314 flying boat and she was a rivet bucker on the B-17. Not long after they started dating Wayne contracted appendicitis, Marie would walk to the hospital halfway across Seattle to visit him. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the Army and was sent off to basic training. Marie went out to North Carolina and they were married on Aug. 24, 1942.

Wayne spent his overseas service in the Philippines as a wheeled vehicle mechanic and an expert on the Thompson sub-machine gun. While in the service he received numerous medals, and was honorably discharged in April 1946.

After discharge from service he and Marie moved to Northern California, where he took a job working in the woods as a sawyer in a small railroad tie mill and built a house nearby Fortuna. They began a family with two girls, followed by three boys over the course of 12 years. He later became a millwright at Pacific Lumber in Scotia and farmed 12 acres near the Eel River in Humbolt County.

In 1963, Wayne, Marie and the family moved back to Washington, where they settled on a 90-acre farm outside of Chehalis. Wayne was employed as a carpenter until he retired in 1977. The children grew and moved away to various parts of the country. Wayne and Marie retired to a house that he built on the corner of the property. Later in life they moved in with one of the daughters, Carolyn, settling for five years in La Grande. In 2007 they moved across the state to Corvallis.

Wayne loved the outdoors; camping, hunting, fishing, and indeed much of his working hours were spent outside. He was an avid gardener, growing vegetables, especially tomatoes and flowers. He converted to Catholicism while in the army and remained an active member until his death.

He is survived by his loving and caring wife of 66 years, Marie; five children: Mary Jane Jefferis, Carolyn Jensen, Louie, Mike and Lenny; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

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