Wayne J Edelman

This obituary was written by Wayne J Edelman prior to his death. The funeral home publishing this notice has no political affiliations and does not endorse any political views expressed herein.

Wayne J Edeleman, Born 2/28/1956 to Ollie Pearl Simmons and Thomas Glen Edelman in Dallas, Texas. Survived by son Paul, sister Diane, and niece Shannon.  Died on 12/23/2025 after a battle with lung cancer.

Wayne graduated from Lake Highlands High School in 1973. Also, a proud graduate of Colorado Outward Bound School, classes C-123, BH-2, and CR-61. He loved outdoor activities like climbing, backpacking, and whitewater rafting. He also loved motorcycles until an accident in 1979 where he was struck by a car. Nine of the many operations he had in his life were because of the wreck.

He started work mowing yards at age 10, then was a paper boy at 12, followed by various jobs until he went to work at Fed Mart at 18. He worked there for seven years in various management roles. Starting in 1981 he went to work for Southwestern Bell Telephone, first as an operator, then spent 23 years as a telephone repair tech, retiring in 2006 from AT&T. He was a union Job Steward for some of the years in addition to his normal job duties. After retiring he immediately moved to South Fork, Colorado where he worked at Wolf Creek Ski are, in season, for the next 10 years as a Ski Rental Tech, leaving in 2015 to truly retire.

His passion in his final years was tournament poker where he found considerable success, making over a hundred final tables. Usually making deals when down to two to four players, splitting the prize pool, though a few tournaments were played to an outright win.

He was involved in conservative politics for decades, voting straight Republican for almost forty years until Trump corrupted the party he loved and supported for so long. He couldn’t support a man who committed tax, bank, and insurance fraud. Who sexually assaulted dozens of women, and was a racist, homophobe. Trump’s worst crime was his attempted coup where he sent a lynch mob after his own vice president and congress, where people died and put one hundred forty brave police officers in the hospital, many who had to retire because of their injuries. The continued support of most Republicans for the corrupt, failed ex-president meant Wayne never voted for that party again. Thought he disagreed with much of the Democratic Party’s politics he voted for them for the remainder of his life.

Wayne asked that you please don’t send flowers, instead send a donation to the Sea Shepherds, and environmental organization the defends the oceans and its wildlife.