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| Cromwell (far right) shares memories and laughter with fellow employees. |
Wayne was called to Talmage under the impression that the elevator
needed a major repair; instead he was greeted by a surprise luncheon party.
Wayne’s wife Linda and two of his daughters Tara and Heather, along with four
of his eight grandchildren, made the trip from Kansas City to be there for the
surprise. (Wayne and Linda also have another daughter, Heidi, living in
Springfield, Missouri, and a son, Scott, in Texas.)
Wayne worked for 18 years as a millwright, originally hired by the Farmers
Cooperative Association to begin a maintenance program in 1994. When MKC merged
with FCA in 2007, Wayne stayed on to work under the new management.
In his time as a millwright, Wayne worked many jobs and made numerous
repairs, not all of which were always enjoyable. “I had to clean out a tunnel
so we could get in to work on it. It was filled with rotten grain, it was wet,
it was smelly, that was probably the worst job,” Wayne said.
While all of the work Wayne performed in his many years as a millwright
may not have always been enjoyable Wayne said his favorite part of the job was
associating with different people in the company.
Wayne shared several stories with those in attendance, the crowd
favorite being how “sparky” became his nickname, a name he received after he
had an incident with the boom on his work truck and power lines in the area he was
working.
“What’s the first thing you are supposed to do before you raise the
boom on a truck?” Wayne said, “Check for power lines. Well I didn’t. I raised
the boom and sparks started flying.” From then on Wayne was known as “sparky”. It
is said that to this day the scorch marks can still be seen on the boom.
His sense of humor made Wayne a favorite among his fellow employees.
“I always appreciated Wayne’s sense of humor when I dealt with him,
most often at Goessel. Having the privilege to run Goessel at harvest meant
having the privilege to help repair mid-harvest breakdowns,” Said Christian
Longanbill, the grain operation manager at Lindsborg. “I specifically remember
the time that Wayne came to help repair it and while we got it operational, we
were not able to permanently fix the issue. He told me he would call me. Turns
out a couple days later we had another break down and I had to call him. When
he showed up to Goessel he reminded me that he was going to call me, not the
other way around. It wasn’t a fun situation, but the subtle sense of humor and
hard work was always appreciated, and will be missed!”
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| Wayne and his wife, Linda, plan to retire to Missouri to be closer to their grandchildren. |
Wayne and Linda will be moving to Harrisonville, Missouri, for
retirement to be closer to their grandchildren. After living in Kansas for
their entire lives and being University of Kansas fans, the move will be a
change for the couple.
“Right at the present time I don’t have a job planned, might eventually
have to find something,” Wayne said. Golfing and fishing are on the top of the
list for Wayne’s retirement plans, although Linda does have plans for Wayne to
build a chicken house.
“He’s going to be missed,” said Jon Brown, MKC’s coordinator of
facility management. This is a sentiment held by all MKC employees.
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