Richard Wayne

Kerley

Richard Wayne Kerley, 70, passed away April 19, 2022, following a lengthy illness. He was born April 9, 1952, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Bill and Gloria Kerley.
After surviving growing up with three sisters (his youngest sister considered him to be the world's coolest big brother), Wayne graduated from Tulsa's Nathan Hale High School in 1970. Coming from a music-oriented family, Wayne loved percussion...something not always fully appreciated by the family as he "drummed" on any handy surface. Wayne also shared his father's love of chess, flying, and the Navy.
Following graduation, he moved to the Washington, DC Metro area and began working at the FBI while attending the University of Maryland where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business and Management with an emphasis in accounting and finance. He later met his wife, Catherine E. Rowland, while both were working at the FBI, and they were married in 1974.
Wayne was a systems analyst in the 1970s and 1980s as companies were coming to terms with how to do business in a newly computerized environment. During those years, Wayne and his father would play chess over the phone during their lunch hours.
Wayne's professional career was cut short by his retirement on disability due to severe, chronic health issues. Even though he was unable to work at his career, he found ways to be engaged in life through gardening and volunteer service.
Wayne spent many hours volunteering counseling and encouraging people living with Crohn's Disease, helping them to process and understand resources available to them as well as how to live with Crohn's. Beginning in 2003, Wayne also volunteered with various community and national organizations, including FEMA and the Police Department and Fire Department of Fort Worth. In 2006 he received The President's Call to Service Award, which was given to people who had dedicated at least two years or 4,000 hours to serve others.
Starting in 2010 he watched his grandson Aston for two years during the day. Aston loved spending time with his grandpa, who was always up for adventures from trying to convince Aston chess was fun to letting Aston bury in him in the sandy beaches of Pensacola.
In addition to his parents, Wayne was predeceased by a sister, Linda Kerley Frasier. Surviving in addition to Cathy, his wife of 48 years, are his daughter, Jacqueline Dunn, PhD, and her husband, Austin; his grandson, Aston Dunn; his sisters, Elaine Payne and Barbara (David) Sizemore; and several nieces and nephews.
Those who wish to remember Wayne in a special way may make gifts in his memory to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (www.ccfa.org) or any nonprofit.