Roll Call Tribute

Wayne E. Leverkuhn 

June 14, 1935 - February 10, 2024 

Wayne was born in Houston TX, and grew up on Leverkuhn St. Wayne was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Downtown, and attended school there until high school. Trinity continued to hold a dear place in Wayne’s life even when he lived away from Houston. After graduating from Reagan High School in1952, Wayne attended Texas A&M University where he studied electrical engineering; like most Aggies, A&M also held an important place in Wayne’s life. While at A&M, he agreed to go on a blind date with the woman who would become the love of his life and wife of 67 years, Helen.

After their marriage in 1956, four children followed: twins Lois and Lynn, Karen and Keith. After spending his whole life in Texas thus far, Wayne and family packed up in the middle of winter 1964 and moved to Minnesota to pursue a career in the new industry of computers. Wayne spent 25 years working at Sperry Univac, holding a number of engineering and management roles until his retirement in 1999. Wayne’s varied roles took him all over the globe, including Australia, Europe and an extended assignment in Tel Aviv Israel where he and Helen spent 18 months. Shortly after his retirement, Wayne un-retired and he and Helen owned two tax preparation businesses near Seattle Washington, and ran them for nearly ten years before they both well and truly retired back to Minnesota. After several years of traveling between Minnesota and Texas, Wayne was delighted to finally move back “home” to Houston in 2016.

But Wayne was much more than this: he was an artist, enjoying creating metal sculptures and water color paintings. He was a servant in his community, where he served on municipal government, was involved in political efforts, and recorded books for the blind for over twenty years. He participated actively in the Red Cross, helping hurricane victims and being on-call for whatever and wherever he was needed. He was a servant of the church, where he served as a church officer, elder, and bible school teacher for most of his life. He was an incredibly curious man, devouring history from Ancient Rome to 20th Century US. But Wayne’s love was in music: he participated in church and community choirs until his lungs would no longer allow him to sing in his mellow bass voice. His culminating event in his music endeavors was performing at Carnegie Hall with the Lutheran Chorale.

Despite all of his successful pursuits, his greatest contribution in life was setting a beautiful example as a follower of Christ. He was fully devoted to his wife and family, and was a friend to so many. In all things, Christ was his center, and his example of being a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather will echo through the generations of those who knew and loved him.

Wayne is survived by his wife Helen, daughters Lois Moss (Rob), Lynn Gehrke (Bob), Karen Parchman (Wayne), and son Keith Leverkuhn (Jane). His eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren will miss his humor, his storytelling, and his Donald Duck voice.