Wayne N. Austin's Obituary
Wayne Nelson Austin, 81, of Orange City, Florida passed away on September 12, 2014, after a long illness. He was born December 15, 1932, in Fort Worth, Texas, to the late Nelson Langston Austin and Jewel Hornback Austin. His father was a master watchmaker and engraver and his parents owned a jewelry store in Fort Worth for over 35 years. Wayne was a fifth generation Texan whose great-grandfather founded the Central Texas town of Leakey.
Wayne graduated from Fort Worth Technical High School, studied engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington and Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
From an early age his interest in “how things worked” led him to a career spanning over 40 years in engineering facilities for large factory operations. Wayne was an early proponent of the “Smart Building” concept providing Internet control throughout commercial structures. He was first employed by Williamson-Dickie, Inc., Fort Worth, that had interests in seven states and Central America. He designed and managed construction and installation projects of manufacturing and warehouse sites for the company for 12 years and worked with the government of British Honduras while establishing a garment production facility in Belize. In 1963, he became Superintendent of Maintenance for Collins Radio Co., Richardson, Texas, with responsibility of 23 buildings, an antenna farm and airport facility. While in Richardson, he met Margaret Noe Wesson and they were married November 11, 1967.
In 1972, Wayne accepted an offer from Martin Marietta Corp. Aerospace Division in Orlando, Florida. He was in charge of over a million square feet of offices, warehousing and production space. Five years later, he took a special assignment for the company to design a seven-story data center in Orlando, duplicating the power and cooling services for data operations in New York City, Denver, Atlanta, Saudi Arabia and a flight- training center in Kuwait.
As an engineering project management consultant, he formed Critical Systems, Inc., in 1982 and provided services to the Federal Aviation Administration, AT&T, Transport Canada and several divisions of Martin-Marietta.
Wayne and his family moved to Maryland in 1987, where he accepted a position of Director of Facilities for Chesapeake Park, Inc., an industrial/office park management company with properties in several states. He managed the electrical, mechanical and utilities systems and supervised contractors.
After retiring in 1990, Wayne obtained his commercial real estate license and dabbled in the industry while helping his wife on the residential end. Although he loved the Maryland landscape, Wayne and Margaret moved back to Florida in 1994 where they could once again enjoy the warm weather.
Wayne held professional certification from the American Institute of Plant Engineers, served as president of Dallas and Central Florida chapters and represented the Institute to the Florida Engineers Society. He was a Founder Fellow of The Institution of Diagnostic Engineers and member of the Refrigeration and Technicians Association. He served on the advisory council to the Orange County Voc-Tech training schools in Orlando.
In more recent years, you could find Wayne chatting it up at the local Dunkin' Donuts enjoying a cup of coffee before heading back home to "fix" something. He found himself most content working in his shop, watching a Cowboy's football game, reading about airplanes, or just listening to an old Willie Nelson tune. It was the simplest things that made him most happy.
He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Margaret Austin of Orange City, Florida; stepson, Mark Wesson and wife, Marsha, of Lake Mary, Florida; daughter, Julia and husband, Scott Marolf of Orlando, Florida; grandchildren, Jesse Hagan, Alicia Campbell, Tyler Wesson, Blake Marolf and Emmett Marolf; great-grandchildren Mason Hagan and Anderson Campbell; sister, Edra Zoe McElhaney and husband, Robert McElhaney, of Austin, Texas.
The family would like to express a special thanks to the staff at Monastery Oaks Assisted Living for the care given to Mr. Austin during his illness.
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