Born in the small town of Oakboro, North Carolina, Wayne Monroe Drye lived an extraordinary life guided by the philosophy “Come Grow Old With Me… The Best Is Yet To Be.” He passed away peacefully on May 5, 2020 after a month-long hospitalization as a result of COVID-19 virus.
Wayne Monroe Drye was born August 12, 1941 to the late Raymond Monroe Drye & Agatha Louise Hatley Drye of Oakboro, NC. He was the grandson of the late Duke Davis Drye & Mary Ellen Shue Drye of Cabarrus County, NC and C. A. Hatley & Eva Ann Almond Hatley of Oakboro, NC.
Wayne was born an Entrepreneur. As an elementary student, he opened a car wash business at the local gas station recruiting his classmates to run the business as he worked on expansion. Later in high school he opened a shoe-shine business to raise funds for college and his love of cars. Wayne graduated from Oakboro High School, where he lettered in basketball and was selected as the Most Likely to Succeed superlative. He graduated from Wingate University, Wingate, NC with an accounting degree in 1962, and was later named a Distinguished Alumni Recipient in 1989.
In spring of 1961, Wayne met Mary Eda McCollum from Monroe, NC and they were married in August of 1966. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Wayne’s “second home” of Hawaii, along with the entire family. They welcomed their sons John Monroe Drye in 1969 and Richard Monroe Drye in 1974.
Following college, Wayne served in the United States Army Reserves and began his insurance career with Combined Insurance Company of America. Wayne quickly rose through the ranks of Combined under the guidance of W. Clement Stone, and was promoted to Executive Vice-President over the Southeast United States, the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.
In 1992, Wayne founded his own company, World Insurance Association, Inc. For 28 years, Wayne served as the President and CEO of WIA and grew the organization to serve clients in all 50 states in the US and abroad.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “to be remembered you should either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Wayne’s life fell squarely in the latter statement. His positive influence as a husband, father, mentor, businessman, and consummate professional was profoundly felt from his early days as a door-to-door salesman, to the last day he worked as the President and CEO of his own company.
Wayne was the kind of person you couldn’t help but want to know better. If you were to follow him throughout the course of a day, you would be in awe at how he treated every single person he came in contact with. He considered everyone to be a friend, no matter how he met you, because it was these connections that mattered most to him.
His Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) was a character trait that you couldn’t separate from him, any more than you could change his eyes from blue to brown. All of his favorite quotes were not just words to him, he lived each day by exemplifying them in his every encounter. And if you knew Wayne for even a short time, you surely heard him say things like:
• I feel Healthy! I feel Happy! I feel Terrific!
• You are a mind with a body, not a body with a mind.
• Success is achieved by those who try and keep trying with a positive mental attitude.
Wayne was that biblical “light on a hill” to all who had the great privilege of knowing him. Matthew 5:16 describes Wayne’s life and legacy perfectly:
“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
He was and will always be ‘Our Light’ as a husband, father, brother, uncle and friend. He truly left this world a better place than he found it.
We will forever celebrate Wayne by living our lives as he exemplified daily to each of us. There can be no greater honor than to live by the legacy that he left behind. Though we would have chosen to continue to grow older with him throughout our lives, we will certainly believe that “the best is yet to be.”
Wayne is survived by his wife Mary McCollum Drye, sons John Monroe Drye and wife Rhonda, Richard Monroe Drye and wife Tracy, and beloved grandchildren Sydney, Austin, William and Madison Drye. He is survived by one sister Barbara Drye Whitley and husband Christopher of Albemarle, NC. Wayne also had a special bond with all of his nieces and nephews.
Due to the continuing COVID-19 Pandemic, a graveside memorial for immediate family only will be held Monday May 11th, 2020 at Arlington Memorial.
In lieu of flowers, the family is inviting friends to support Emory St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Please visit WayneDrye.com for more information.
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