Wayne Keith Elkins Sr.
July 24, 1928 ~ February 22, 2014
Wayne Keith Elkins Sr, age 85, passed away February 22, 2014 from a long battle with Alzheimer's disease and Coronary Heart Failure. He was born July 24, 1928 in Sulpher, OK to the late Otis Lee Elkins Sr. and Vinnie Mae Crouse Elkins. He was Baptized in the Name of the Father and Son and of the Holy Ghost on December 6th in the year of our Lord in 1953 in the presence of the Congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church officiating pastor, John R. Knaul He was preceded in death by his spouse, Carolyn Bernadine Temple, whom he had been married for almost 50 years along with their only child, Wayne Keith Elkins Jr., (Butch) who was 37 years young. Wayne Sr. and Carolyn met while they both served in the army at Fort Sam Houston and he lived in San Antonio Texas for more than 60 years. Wayne Keith Elkins Sr. served in the army and retired after 23 years. He was awarded a Certificate for Arithmetic from Garvin County Curricular and Fine Arts Meet on April 4, 1941. He graduated from eighth grade from Paoli High School on May 21, 1942. He received an award from the Oklahoma High School Honors Society for the years of 1942 and 1943. This was given May 21st, 1943 from Paoli High School. He was given an award by the American Legion which certified that Wayne Keith Elkins Sr. of Paoli High School was selected for this award because he was found to possess, among others, those high qualities of character-Honor, Courage, Scholarship, Leadership and Service which are necessary to the preservation and protection of fundamental institutions of our government and the advancement of society. The award was made by Davenport-Florence Post No. 87, the Department of Oklahoma, The American Legion. He graduated high school in 1946 and joined the Army serving in Korea at the end of World War II He served 23 years in the Army and was retired as Sgt. Major Wayne Keith Elkins upon completing several terms in wartime which included World War II, the Korean Conflict, and 2 terms in Vietnam where he was exposed to agent orange which later lead to his demise. He married Carolyn on April 2, 1952. She was an administrator in the Army, fell in love, got married and had a son He joined the army upon graduation in 1946 and received numerous awards, one of which was from the Headquarters Fourth United States Army, Fort Sam Houston, Texas and was by the direction of the Secretary of the Army, the Army Commendation Medal which was awarded to Sergeant Major Wayne K. Elkins, Sr., United States Army for meritorious service: because he distinguished himself by meritorious service in successive positions as Senior Personnel Accounting Sergeant, Document Processing Section, and Sergeant Major of the Data Processing Division, Office of Adjutant General, Headquarters Fourth United States Army, from July 1965 to April 1967. He also received a Meritorious Service Medal for outstanding Meritorious Service for April 1968 to October 1969. He received an Honorable Discharge each time he reenlisted and received his final Honorable Discharge on 23rd March, 1968. In addition to his normal duties he managed the Bowling Center for the US Army General Depot in Saumur France in 1961 to 1964. He loved to bowl and as extracurricular activities he managed bowling activities to include publicity, organizing competitions from 1970 to 1975. He continued his education and went back to college in March 1975 and 1976. He again directed activities for the Army in 1976 and 1977. He worked part time as an Administrative Clerk in 1977 and 1978 and was a bookkeeper. He worked as an Truancy Officer for the Independent School District in Schertz, Texas. He worked as a shipping/receiving clerk for Rams Plumbing Supply in San Antonio, TX from 1970 to 1981. He also worked as a Maintenance and Inventory Control clerk for the ISD for San Antonio, TX from 1981 to 1985 where he retired again and could concentrate on Bowling competitions for the United States Bowling Congress, Open Championships. He received an award from the USBC for recognition of 30 years participation and service, which was presented to him in Las Vegas, Nevada, Cashman Center, in 2009. Wayne was an accomplished 9 and 10 pen bowler and had a 230 average. He was a special friend to many and had several lifetime friends whom he stayed in touch with throughout his 85 years. He is survived by many nephews and preceded in death by his sister, Joy Elkins goodman; brother, Otis Lee Elkins Sr. and niece Barbara Goodman Lay.
Donations can be made to his favorite charities, the Cancer Society of America and the Alzheimer's Society to help further the advancement for the cure of these terrible diseases. Cards and comments may be sent to his Nephew Richard L. Elkins who is coordinating Wayne's final wishes and obtained through email at richardleeelkins@yahoo.com
View current weather.
Memories Timeline
Guestbook
Sign the Guestbook, Light a Candle
Uncle Wayne was the finest and truest gentleman I have ever known. Some people get mean with Alzheimer’s, not Uncle Wayne. He was a gentleman until the end. He was like a father to Richard and I and we will never know another man like him. He will be sorely missed. We loved him more than anyone could ever fathom. God broke the mold when he made him but his memory will carry on forever and through his nephews, Richard, Merlin, Alvin and Steven, (just to name a few) he will always live on through them and their children, forever.
Wayne was a very special man and I am proud to have known him.
Uncle Wayne and Aunt Carol loved their Poodles and would bring them along when they came to town. I also loved Poodles and my 1st one, Yogi Bear was given to me by my best friend. My 2nd Poodle Toby, was also given to me 13 yrs ago by the same friend. So I know we love our pets and feel like they are family members. One day I called to talk to Uncle Wayne while he was still living in his home. He was very sad and told me how his dog slipped through the door as he was leaving one day and he ran over his precious pet. It was a very hard conversation to have and I didn’t mention my Poodle because I didn’t want to make his loss seem insignificant . We talked about the weather and what was happening with family instead and of course bowling.
A long time ago Uncle Wayne and Aunt Carol came to town for a bowling tournament, it was great to see how professional he was. He really had high scores. After it was over and we were all getting ready to leave I said Uncle Wayne you are a great bowler, and he said ( it was great beer ) so if you knew Uncle Wayne you knew he loved his beer… He was a really sweet man.and will be missed.
Thank you for sharing Patty. He was an extremely good bowler and bowled his last game December 2012 when he could hardly walk but he still bowled the highest score that day amongst all the tournaments and league bowlers. His high score was 213.
We took him into our home along with his little poodle Beau 2 who sat on his lap and slept with him nightly. It was chaotic since we had 3 cats but we all learned to live together. He could not have his dog with him at the nursing home in Tomball once we had to place him there, and we cared for him for awhile but they both missed each other tremendously. Uncle Wayne would set off the alarm every night calling for Beau 2 to come back in but he couldn’t find him. He fretted often about how or where he had lost his little dog. We found Beau 2 a wonderful home with a family who had 2 little boys who he sleeps with every night. They are taking wonderful care of him and love him dearly and sent me updated pics of him via text messaging so I could go to the nursing home and show Wayne when he worried about him. He would always accept it at the time and after awhile he quit asking and setting off the alarm. He like to do crossword puzzles and brain teasers clear up to the end and we probided him with many. He could add large groups of numbers in his head clear up to the last week of his life bit not remember what he had for lunch or where he was. I’ve never met a more intelligent man in my life even with dementia and alzheimer’s.
Well I have lost my favorite Uncle. He was always there for me and my mother Joye Elkins after my dad Otis Elkins died.
I remember about 2006, the kids and I went down to San Antonio to visit Uncle Wayne. We decided to take the kids down to Corpus Christy to visit the famous WWII
aircraft carrier, the USS Lexington. So, Uncle Wayne drove us down to the carrier and dropped us off, and told us to be back in two hours. Gareth was very excited about the whole tour of the ship. We got back to the car, it looked like Uncle Wayne
did not leave at all. This I will never forget.
Uncle Wayne was a sweet man. Wish I had know him longer. We will all miss you.
Uncle Wayne was a very proud and wonderful man. He loved his family and his poodles very much. He also loved the sport in which he excelled at (Bowling). I remember when he would talk about some of the places he bowled you could see the glimmer in his eyes. He truley enjoyed this sport.
He also loved to fish with my Dad and Grandpa. I remember the times they would take us boys when we were very young. We would wade in the shallow waters and drag the big Cat Fish they would noodle. ( Big Cats) It was amazing that they could go under the water and come up with these big Cat Fish. To this day I do not Noodle for I love my fingers and hands. I will always remember Uncle Wayne (My Dads Brother) for the rest of my days.
Merlin Wayne Elkins
I never met Uncle Wayne but I have heard so much about him from Debrina, I feel as I know him! I know he was a wonderful person and will be greatly missed! My prayers are with Debrina, Richard, and family. So very sorry!
Uncle Wayne was the oldest of the family but he was the best of us. He cherished his late wife and his little poodle Bough. He loved his family and always had a listening ear. I only got to meet him twice and with those meetings, it was enough to understand the depth of what he had done with his life and still had to offer. So with a heavy heart and hope to being in a better place, Ill say good bye for now but not forever. Love your great-niece Korie Beth
I think I met Uncle Wayne first when I was a little kid, and he told me his birthday was the day after mine,(minus a few decades) and that made him special to me. As I got older, I got to see him a few times and always loved it when his bowling would bring him close enough to Illinois that he would stop in for a visit. We still have pictures of him after a fishing trip with the hook and lure stuck in his scalp. I remember how calm he was with the hook stuck in his head. As a kid I was impressed, and still am. He sure did love his bowling and will be missed by any that knew him.
One of my first memories of Uncle Wayne was when I was in 3rd grade, he came to my grandparents home when he was on leave with the Army. He asked me if I wanted to go with him to town to get some dinner. We stopped at a grocery store and he bought all my favorite candy bars. When we got back to the car, we sat in the parking lot and ate them all. I spent a few summers with Aunt Carol and Uncle Wayne and every night he took me to softball games where he was either the umpire or the catcher for the Army league that he was on. At the end of the summer I went home with an Army duffle bag full of softballs, bats and catcher’s equipment. He took me to my first semi-pro baseball game in San Antonio which was the highlight of my summer. He took me to the bowling alley with him where he and Aunt Carol bowled on a league and I was amazed at how many strikes and spares he bowled. I recently found an award that he received from from the San Antonio Bowling Association for bowling a high score of 298. This was his all time high score. In December of 2012, Debrina and I took him to his last bowling league so he could bowl with his friends and even though he could barely walk and had dementia, he bowled a 216 which was the highest score of anyone in the bowling alley. Uncle Wayne was in Vietnam during the same year I was stationed over there in 1967 and 1968. He was in Saigon with Military Assistance Command. He was SGT. MAJ. over the data processing unit for all units in Vietnam. These were just some of the good times I have spent with my beloved Uncle Wayne. His demeanor was unchanged even throughout his bsttle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was a true Officer and a Gentleman and an exceptional role model for me as well as anyone who knew him.