Wayne Webber

Walter Wayne Webber, age 90, of Grants Pass, died December 11, 2023.

Wayne was born October 14, 1933 in Springfield, Oregon to Joseph & Lela Webber.  The family lived in Trent, Oregon until 1947 when they moved to Independence.  In 1951 Wayne was in the first graduating class of the new Central High School.  He joined the United States Navy in November of 1952, after deciding that working in the mill was a good way to get hurt when his arm was caught in a planer. He scored the highest score on record for the Naval entrance exam in the Portland, Oregon recruiting office.  They offered to make him a Navy pilot, but this young man raised in poverty who had never been more than 100 miles from where he was born until he went to Portland to take the entrance exam, could not imagine what a fighter pilot would do after the Navy, so he went into aviation electronics instead.

In April of 1954 he married Vivian Fotta and in 1955 a son Dennis was born.  Their two years in the Navy while stationed in San Diego became some of the most formative and influential years of their lives.  Wayne was honorably discharged in 1956 and began a lifetime career with IBM, working out of the Portland office.   He eventually became an account rep, responsible for the repair and upkeep of the largest IBM systems in Portland, including Pacific Northwest Bell, Techtronics, and the parent company for U-Haul. In 1964 a daughter Brenda was born and shortly after the family moved to Gresham.   In 1989 Wayne retired and in 1994 moved to the Oregon coast where he and Vivian lived until 2004 when they moved to Grants Pass.

In each community where he lived, Wayne was actively involved and dedicated to his church.

Wayne is survived by son Dennis and daughter Brenda; four grandchildren Jeremy, Andrew, Kanaan, and Zoey; and 11 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife Vivian on February 22, 2023.

A memorial service with military honors will be at 11:00 a.m., March 29, 2024 at Eagle Point National Cemetery.