A Celebration of Life will be held on Monday July 15, 2024 at 6:00pm at Smyrna First United Methodist Church. The family will receive friends from 4:00 to 5:30pm in the Church Welcome Center prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to MUST Ministries, Tillman House Resource Center, or a charity of your choice in memory of Wayne.
Wayne was born on June 1, 1944 in Atlanta, GA, the third son of Daniel Taylor Waldrip and Martha Emma Glore. He graduated from Murphy High School in East Atlanta and attended the University of Florida on a football scholarship. He later continued his education at Georgia State University, studying biology and environmental science, which became his passion. Wayne was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church, taking leadership roles, working in youth ministry, and participating in mission activities. We will miss Wayne's generous and loving spirit, his wonderful sense of humor, and most especially the twinkle in his eye as he launched into one of his many wonderful stories, poems, jokes, and puns.
Wayne married Carol Crain Waldrip in 1965 and they were married for 30 years prior to her death. Together they joined the Peace Corps, spending two years in the Marianna islands teaching elementary school. Following the Peace Corps they lived in Marietta where they raised two sons.
Wayne was an environmentalist and a water professional, beginning as a chemist and operator in the Atlanta Water Works, and continuing in various positions with Cobb County and the City of Cartersville, where he retired as Assistant Water and Sewer Superintendent after 21 years. He continued in the water and wastewater industry at Principle Environmental, Inc. until 2009. He was a lifetime member of the American Water Works Association and the Georgia Association of Water Professionals.
He was a past board member of Keep Smyrna Beautiful and Keep Cobb Beautiful and a member of the Smyrna Optimist Club. His retirement hobbies included history research on the Old Peachtree Road and various 18th and 19th century forts along the rivers in Georgia. He didn’t limit his research to what he read, he actually did physical research of the sites! He was also a supporter of the Atlanta Riverline Historic Area and Riverwalk Atlanta.
Wayne was predeceased by his parents, his wife, Carol, and his brothers, Daniel Waldrip, Jr. and Carey Waldrip, Sr.
Survivors include his wife of 26 years, Judy Waldrip of Smyrna, GA; sons, Jesse (Holly) Waldrip of Lexington, SC and Jonathan Waldrip of Marietta, GA; stepchildren, Jenny Essary of Floyd, NM and Brian (Nancy) James of Atlanta, GA; grandchildren, Juliet, Evelyn, and Iris Waldrip, Shelby, Ch’ree, Chance, and Andrew Essary, and Somi James; cousin, Tom (Phyllis) Alexander; and several nieces and nephews.
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