Loyal Wayne Fry

His sister Susan referred to him as a gentle giant, "The Gentle Giant has fallen".  But he was also a valiant soldier, a loving husband, and a protective father, a member of the Greatest Generation, and he has returned home to the Great God who made him.  

Wayne Fry, known as The Colonel, was born in 1922, in an upstairs room of the Old Morgan Utah post office.  He liked to say he was a special delivery package to his parents Thomas Loyal Fry and Hattie Ina Heiner Fry.  He also maintained that his name wasn't a name but an adjective, and Loyal he was to family, friends, and country.

Wayne graduated from Ogden High School, Class of 1940.  By 1942, in the dark days of World War II, he was a pilot with the US ARMY AIR CORPS. In 1943, he married his lifelong sweetheart, Elma Mary Larson, and three days later was shipped out to the Aleutian Islands.  Before the end of the year his bomber was shot down over the Sea of Okhotsk and he and his crew were taken captive into Russia.  During the Korean Conflict he served the US AIR FORCE in Europe building up the NATO presence during the Cold War.  And a decade later The Colonel ended up in the cockpit again flying combat sorties over enemy territory in Vietnam.  Over 31 years he served in the military defending his country.  The "Gentle Giant" was made of steel.

In 1971, he retired from the military, cofounded Logistic Specialties and settled down with his family in Bountiful, Utah.  These were the years he became a grandpa and great-grandpa, his greatest legacy.  The grandchildren nicknamed him "Awesome", and so he became Grandpa Awesome.  He and his sweetheart Elma, over the course of their nearly 73 years of marriage, developed a legacy of five children, fourteen grandchildren, and thirty-one+ great-grandchildren. Our Awesome Gentle Giant is survived by his wife Elma, his children Vicky Fry (Sergio) DelHoyo, W. Douglas Fry, Kristine Fry (Terry) Rix, Brian M. Fry, and Michele Fry (Tony) Smith.  Also his three sisters, Nadine Fry (Clyde) Spencer, DiAnne Fry (Glen) Campbell, and Susan Fry Shifflett.  He was preceded in death by his parents and his two brothers, Keith Fry and Thomas Fry.

Viewing will be Sunday, Jan 10th, 6-8 PM, at Russon Bros. Mortuary, 295 North Main Street in Bountiful.  Funeral Services will be Monday, Jan. 11th, 11:00 AM at Russon Bros. Mortuary, with a viewing from 9:45-10:45 AM prior to the service.  Interment at Bountiful City Cemetery.