Wayne Harms
Obituary
It is with a deep and profound sense of loss that we announce the sudden passing of Wayne Harms on Thursday, July 6, 2023. We know he is with his Lord Jesus in heaven, but we miss him dearly here on earth.
Wayne was born on November 1, 1958, in Steinbach, MB. He grew up on the family farm south of Steinbach in the Bristol area.
Wayne married the love of his life Vonda on July 21, 1990, and they would have celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary this month. They had three sons together, Cody in 1993, Colby in 1994 and Clayton in 1996.
In 1998, Wayne and Vonda purchased the family farm and moved there with their three sons. Wayne was pleased to be the third generation to own the farm. Wayne loved to work and he was a hard worker so having a grain, hog and beef farm was right up his alley. It was important to Wayne to teach his boys a strong work ethic. He included them in his farm work wherever he could like taking them along on the tractor when they were little, teaching them how to repair things, how to take care of the animals, and how to operate the equipment as they got old enough. Wayne was a great father and the boys really appreciate everything he taught them over the years.
Wayne and Vonda spent a lot of time training and riding horses in their early years together. When the boys were older they needed more horsepower and the horses got replaced with three-wheelers, quads and dirt bikes. Oh did Wayne and the boys ever have fun racing those machines around our farm race track and down the trails.
We were fortunate to be able to go on a few family trips together to Disneyworld, Six Flags and Universal studios in California, Six Flags in Texas and Valleyfair in Minneapolis and Wayne went on every roller coaster ride that the rest of us went on. After the boys were grown up, Wayne and Vonda went on a few road trips to the Maritimes, Alberta, Indiana and Tennessee and a few shorter trips around Manitoba.
Wayne was fearless. When there was a job to be done, he didn’t think about how safe or unsafe it was, he just did it. He had a lot of close calls over the years and we used to joke that he had nine lives. Whenever we would talk about his mishaps and close calls he would say there is only one reason he is still here and that is by the grace of God. In 2016 he fell off a ladder and broke his hip. He was on crutches for a couple of months. That did not slow him down much. He bought himself a golf cart and would park it at the back door of the house. Then he only had to go out the back door, get in the cart and away he went to check cattle and crops. During that time the boys took care of cutting and baling the hay crop even though they all had full time jobs off the farm. Wayne was so proud of them.
Wayne also loved driving semi-truck. In 2007 he got a job at F&D Trucking hauling groceries to Safeway stores in Regina, Thunder Bay, Thompson and Fort Frances. He loved that job. There was no amount of bad weather that could stop him. When he had a load to deliver, it got delivered!
Wayne had severe asthma and it was getting worse as he got older. Some days he would have such struggles trying to breath and he wouldn’t get much work done. That did not sit well with him.
Wayne loved people and people loved him. He had the gift of making the person he was talking to feel special. He loved to tell stories and always had more stories to tell each time he met you. He could spin any regular daily event into an interesting story. He also had the infectious laugh. When he laughed you couldn’t help but laugh with him.
Rest in peace Wayne, your work here is done. Your memories and lessons will live on forever in our hearts. Our hope is in Jesus… until we meet again.
The family would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the paramedics and doctors and nurses at Bethesda Hospital for their hard work trying to save Wayne’s life.
A come and go visitation with family will be held on Sunday, July 16, 2023, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. at Birchwood Funeral Chapel, Steinbach, Manitoba.
