Gail
24186
Thanks to Keith Judson, co-moderator of the Yahoo!Group Sunfish_Sailor for sharing the following:
Wayne Carney (October 5, 1951 – October 9, 2010)
It is with great sadness that I pass along the news that Wayne Carney passed away on October 9th, 2010, at the age of 59. Wayne had been ill with a rapidly progressing degenerative disease for several years and it finally overtook him. He had been unable to work for over 3 years, but did remain independently living on his own, although housebound. He did not share the details of his decline freely, so his demise surprised even those close to him. As many of you know, Wayne was the moderator of the Sunfish_Sailor Yahoo website as well as several other sailing websites and a frequent contributor to the Sunfish Forum.. His participation in the online world of sailing was the last active interest he could participate in and was a very important community to him. In this way, he retained a cherished sense of freedom and could always inhabit the world of sailing he so loved.
Wayne grew up in the Midwest, the eldest of 3 children (with 2 sisters), and honed his sailing skills on the Great Lakes. His dad, a US Navy veteran, taught him to sail on Lightnings and Stars at age 8. In high school, he bought his first Sunfish and then a Hobie Cat. He taught many of his friends to sail, and delighted in sailing on Lake Michigan near Chicago until he moved to Colorado at age 21. He discovered Colorado on a ski trip as a teenager and felt immediately it was his true home.
Like his father, he had an engineering mind. His first career was as a Volkswagen mechanic in Chicago and then Colorado Springs. After a few years, he became a bicycle mechanic before moving to Fort Collins to attend Colorado State University, where he majored in geology and computer science. He continued to work while in school and became the quality control manager for a small injection-molded plastics manufacturing company, later becoming their computer network manager.
He was an avid outdoorsman and thoroughly enjoyed activities such as hiking, fly fishing, white-water rafting, kayaking, bicycling, skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating and, of course, sailing. He was also quite interested in petroglyphs, as befits his geology background. He often took vacations to archeological sites in Utah and Colorado. He loved to introduce friends and family to the pleasures and wonders of these places and all his outdoor activities. Whether on the water or on foot, the natural world of the Rocky Mountains and surrounding areas was his spiritual home and being active there his greatest joy. If it were possible, Wayne would probably have spent his entire life outside in the wilderness.
Like his mother, a special education teacher, Wayne liked to help people, one reason he started the Sunfish_Sailor website. Detail was his middle name and he was glad to offer assistance to both sailing neophytes as well as expert sailors. He lived a very simple life in terms of material possessions, but a very rich life through his interests and interactions with other people.
Wayne also had a wry and sharp sense of humor that was evident in many of his responses to questions on the Sunfish_Sailor website. The sailing community and his family and many friends will miss him deeply. When the Rocky Mountains are green and the trout are biting again in the summer of 2011, his ashes will be scattered at his favorite fly-fishing spot on the Poudre River near Fort Collins, CO.
He is survived by his 2 sisters and his mother. A memorial website is under construction. When ready, all his sailing groups will be notified. The family has created an email address for direct communication now: [email protected]
Note: If you are personally acquainted with the family, please be aware that his mother has advanced dementia and is not being informed of his death.
Wayne Carney (October 5, 1951 – October 9, 2010)
It is with great sadness that I pass along the news that Wayne Carney passed away on October 9th, 2010, at the age of 59. Wayne had been ill with a rapidly progressing degenerative disease for several years and it finally overtook him. He had been unable to work for over 3 years, but did remain independently living on his own, although housebound. He did not share the details of his decline freely, so his demise surprised even those close to him. As many of you know, Wayne was the moderator of the Sunfish_Sailor Yahoo website as well as several other sailing websites and a frequent contributor to the Sunfish Forum.. His participation in the online world of sailing was the last active interest he could participate in and was a very important community to him. In this way, he retained a cherished sense of freedom and could always inhabit the world of sailing he so loved.
Wayne grew up in the Midwest, the eldest of 3 children (with 2 sisters), and honed his sailing skills on the Great Lakes. His dad, a US Navy veteran, taught him to sail on Lightnings and Stars at age 8. In high school, he bought his first Sunfish and then a Hobie Cat. He taught many of his friends to sail, and delighted in sailing on Lake Michigan near Chicago until he moved to Colorado at age 21. He discovered Colorado on a ski trip as a teenager and felt immediately it was his true home.
Like his father, he had an engineering mind. His first career was as a Volkswagen mechanic in Chicago and then Colorado Springs. After a few years, he became a bicycle mechanic before moving to Fort Collins to attend Colorado State University, where he majored in geology and computer science. He continued to work while in school and became the quality control manager for a small injection-molded plastics manufacturing company, later becoming their computer network manager.
He was an avid outdoorsman and thoroughly enjoyed activities such as hiking, fly fishing, white-water rafting, kayaking, bicycling, skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating and, of course, sailing. He was also quite interested in petroglyphs, as befits his geology background. He often took vacations to archeological sites in Utah and Colorado. He loved to introduce friends and family to the pleasures and wonders of these places and all his outdoor activities. Whether on the water or on foot, the natural world of the Rocky Mountains and surrounding areas was his spiritual home and being active there his greatest joy. If it were possible, Wayne would probably have spent his entire life outside in the wilderness.
Like his mother, a special education teacher, Wayne liked to help people, one reason he started the Sunfish_Sailor website. Detail was his middle name and he was glad to offer assistance to both sailing neophytes as well as expert sailors. He lived a very simple life in terms of material possessions, but a very rich life through his interests and interactions with other people.
Wayne also had a wry and sharp sense of humor that was evident in many of his responses to questions on the Sunfish_Sailor website. The sailing community and his family and many friends will miss him deeply. When the Rocky Mountains are green and the trout are biting again in the summer of 2011, his ashes will be scattered at his favorite fly-fishing spot on the Poudre River near Fort Collins, CO.
He is survived by his 2 sisters and his mother. A memorial website is under construction. When ready, all his sailing groups will be notified. The family has created an email address for direct communication now: [email protected]
Note: If you are personally acquainted with the family, please be aware that his mother has advanced dementia and is not being informed of his death.
