My Pal Wayne A Remembrance
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Time heals all wounds as they say, and I've had a bit of it to wrap my heart around the passing of a man that I - quite simply - adored. Wayne Allwine. It�s taken me this long to write a remembrance of him - for a smile to come without tears splashing my laptop with the imminent danger of electrocution to follow. It�s been difficult to put into words what he means to me and that the thought of not seeing him again hurts - so this comes as both remembrance and therapy.
It�s hard to explain how someone I didn�t know all that well, and saw rather infrequently - couple times a year for 20 years or so - could come to be so important to me - but he was. No, he is. He was that kind of guy. He left an impression. He was a friend of mine. My Pal Wayne. In a remarkable way everyone of us - everyone who admired him, everyone who saw him perform, everyone who spoke with him, everyone who was motivated by him, everyone his love of life inspired - is carrying on his legacy. It�s up to us to share that.
So, here goes�
I knew that Wayne was ill - he�d candidly shared his long and difficult battle with diabetes and we�d spoken of it over the last couple years and I knew that the disease was taking a vicious toll. He knew that I have a family history of this brutal disease and he worried for me. For me. And I also knew that there was a push to find a successor - whom he called �Mickey IV� - and that Wayne was taking part in the process. Those years had not been easy for a man so used to vitality - but you never saw the pain, the cane that made walking easier or the little electric cart when the distance was too long maybe - but the spirit never limped. That�s the kind of guy he was.
But, those conversations are getting harder and harder to recall.
I hadn�t seen Wayne and Ru since right before their Disney Legend induction ceremony at the Studio last year. But a friend who works in Feature Animation had told me in February that he was looking �frail and quite fragile� and I knew that the disease was winning. When my cell buzzed on the afternoon of the 18th with a voice-mail from her, I knew what the message would be and it took me an hour to work up the courage to listen to it.
The tears just came - right there in the break room at work - I could no more have stopped them than stop the earth from spinning. My world was colder and the sky was less bright. A truly wonderful man had passed. My world was dimmer somehow. And then my heart immediately went out to Russi - my dear Miss Ru - and to the family they shared and to the friends they loved and all those who loved him. Them. I sent a small wish to both of them dried my eyes and went back to work.
It�s a strange phenomena when two people become one in your mind. Wayne and Ru are like that for me, they simply were part of the same soul. I never doubted that love exists after meeting them, they were the poster children for the stuff. They sort of overlapped, becoming more together than they were individually. Clich� as it sounds, I rarely thought of Wayne in the single person. He was either Wayne & Mickey or part of the dynamic duo that was Wayne & Russi. He was plural. Always they. Them. We. Us.
He was a singular man though - and in a very real and tangible way very much like the Mouse he voiced. Warm. Funny. Kind. Generous. Sympathetic. Loyal. Friendly. Optimistic. Happy. Brave. Forthright. Playful. Devoted. Considerate. Mischievous. Gregarious. Selfless. Inquisitive. Timeless. Hopeful. Classic. But that�s not to say that he couldn�t also be cranky. Opinionated. Stubborn. Critical. Irritated. He was all of these things and yet he was always grateful. For love. For friendship. For family. For time. For the voice. For the talent. For the timing. For the luck. For the work. For the legacy.