Wayne  Sutera

Leonard Wayne Sutera was born Saturday, December 26, 1931 at the Sutera farm west of Tabor. His parents were Frank and Emma (Vavruska) Sutera. Wayne was baptized and confirmed at the Presbyterian Church, rural Tabor. He served as an elder at the Tyndall Presbyterian Church and sang in the church choir and men’s quartet for many years. He attended Vlasak School just east of the farm where he grew up and graduated from Tyndall High School in 1949. He enlisted in the United States Navy on January 5, 1951 and was honorably discharged November 2, 1954. He was proud to have served his country during the Korean War and was a life member of the Simek-Ptak Post VFW, Tyndall, and Kortan-Hatwan Post American Legion, Tabor. Upon his return from the Navy, Wayne farmed. He married Shirley Hille on October 8, 1958 at the United Church of Christ, Scotland. In 1959, he went to work for Mueller’s Hatchery running the mobile mill and grinding feed for area farmers. Wayne bought the Tyndall Hatchery in 1961and ran the Hatchery grinding feed for area farmers, hatching chickens, and was a Zip feed dealer until 1991 when he retired. Wayne also served on the Tyndall Fire Department and retired in 1989 after 27 years of dedicated service. After he retired, Wayne spent several summers mowing for the City of Tyndall and took great pride in how the city park and ball fields looked after he mowed them.
Wayne enjoyed hunting, fishing, his daily drives along the river and especially attending all of his grandchildren’s school and sporting events. Hunting trips to Harding County and fishing at the river just won’t be the same without him. The grandkids always knew that Grandpa wouldn’t miss a soccer, baseball, football or basketball game, track or cross-country meet, volleyball match or band or vocal concert. They also knew they could always rely on “Grandpa’s taxi service” for rides to games and to and from school or wherever they needed to go. In his younger years, Wayne played amateur baseball for the Tabor Bluebirds and the Tyndall Arrows and didn’t miss a Bluebirds game unless the grandkids had a game the same night. Although health problems slowed him down this past summer, he still attended every ball game he could and thoroughly enjoyed fishing at the river with Becky and Katy, watching Kyle play slow-pitch softball, getting to see Zane and his team win the State VFW 12 & under baseball championship, watching Raquel and Kelsey play in the State Softball tournament and watching Christopher pitch for the Tabor Bluebirds in the State Amateur baseball tournament. Wayne died at St. Michael’s Hospital, Tyndall October 14, 2009 at the age of 77 years, 9 months and 18 days. 
Thankful for sharing his life are his wife, Shirley, Tyndall; daughter: Sheila Kremer (Larry Hovorka), Tyndall; son, Richard and wife, Krista Sutera, Tabor; seven grandchildren: Rebecca, Kaitlin, Christopher, Kyle, Raquel, Kelsey and Zane; two sisters: Mabel Winningham, Tyndall and Ruth Pinkley, Porter, Texas; two brothers: Eugene (Melva) Sutera, Tyndall and Dan (Helen) Sutera, Onida; brother-in-law, Frank Ogan, Tyndall; sister-in-law, Florence Sutera, Tyndall, as well as twenty-three nieces and nephews and numerous cousins and friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Clarence, Wilbur and Jim; sisters Esther Ogan and Shirley Sawatzke; and son-in-law, Dick Kremer.