- Date Of Birth: October 11, 1940
- Date Of Death: June 4, 2020
- State: Minnesota
Gary “Wayne” Wilson, age 79, of Cass Lake, Minnesota journeyed to the spirit world, surrounded by his family, on Thursday, June 4th, 2020 from the Sanford Hospital in Bemidji, MN. He was born in Cass Lake, MN on October 11, 1940 to Benjamin and Delia (Williams) Wilson.
Most know him as Wayne or Waynie, we know him as Dad.
Dad’s mother died when he was young so Grampa Ben raised him and his siblings in the Buck Lake area. This is where he learned to be a hunter and a gatherer. As a young adult, Dad met Mom and they started the family. The family grew and Dad taught us traditions such as hunting, berry picking, working the sugar bush for maple syrup, many kinds of fishing – netting, using a rod and even bare handed in a stream. We harvested wild rice and processed by hand which is a lot of work. It’s a good thing he had A LOT of kids to help with this! As we became of driving age and as scary as it must have been, Dad taught us how to drive a stick.
Dad and Mom eventually divorced but always remained family. Years later Dad married Shirley Larsen. After a few years of marriage, she died tragically. Soon afterward Dad moved into his place northwest of Cass Lake, where he has lived comfortably and peacefully. In 2018 Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer, he tolerated the treatments well for a while. Whenever Dad had an oncology appointment, he had a bunch of girls to accompany him – daughters and little sister. The side-effects from treatments became too harsh for Dad, so we opted for quality of life over continued treatment. Dad finally lost his battle on June 4, 2020.
Dad will be remembered for his great sense of humor. He laughed often and easily made friends. He loved hanging out with family and friends, sometimes “over the hill”, enjoyed driving the back roads and watching the Vikings for his #s. He appreciated classic cars and loved to hear a Harley coming up his driveway. Sunday was phone call day, the day he’d check on the family. Any time he had with his great grandbabies made him smile as he loved that time, which made us smile too. We sure will miss our Dad!
Family that Wayne is reunited with are his parents, Benjamin and Delia Wilson, son, Brian “Guy” Wilson; wife, Shirley Wilson; brothers, Delmar Joe Staples, Thomas “Bobby” Wilson and Clifford
“Kippy” Wilson; granddaughter, Vina Rose Brown and great grandson, Mason Jay Budreau.
Those left behind to cherish his memory are his son, James (Ashley) Brown, Sr. of Cass Lake; daughters, Eva (Bryan) Wilson, Melissa (Tim) Wilson, Patti Wilson, Rhonda (Frank) Butcher all of Cass Lake and Sharon (Terry) Johnson of Crosslake; sisters, Veda Harrison and Lois “Girlie” White both of Cass Lake; grandchildren, Nick, Chrissy, Tee-Jay, Kara, Donovan, Marshall, Devin, Marcy, Kylie, Linzie, Matthew, James Jr., Alex, Jakobe, Nathan and Jasiah; 16 great grandchildren; mother of his children, Linda Wilson; special nieces, Michelle Gutierrez and Abrianna Ortley, numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and many friends.
