Virgil Wayne Fry

Virgil Wayne Fry passed away at the age of 94 on March 27, 2025, in Littleton, Colorado

Wayne, as he was known throughout his life, was born on March 7th, 1931, on the family farm in Williamson County, Illinois, the second of five children, to Virgil and Allie Fry (Dees).

His youth was spent entirely in Williamson County, the first four years on the family farm and later in the village of Pittsburg and the town of Johnston City.

He graduated from Johnston City High School in May of 1948. By his own admission, he had always enjoyed the social aspects of high school more than the academics and had no ambition nor inclination to continue his education. That quickly changed. After two years of back breaking work, loading and unloading trucks and railroad cars, he decided that he needed to find an easier way to make a living. That path led him to enroll in the engineering program at Southern Illinois University in September of 1950.

After two years at SIU, in the summer of 1952, lacking the funds to continue his studies, he applied for and was offered a junior engineer position with the federal government at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. He packed his bags and headed to the Pacific Northwest and his life’s adventures began. For the next year he was assigned the job of laying out the steam pipe drawings for the first of its kind steam catapult on the USS Yorktown. All his previous assignments had involved modifying existing drawings, yet this one required using your imagination and design skills, so life was good!

In June of 1953, he was offered an engineering position with a private contractor at the Hanford Atomic Energy Facility near Richland Washington. As the pay scale he was offered was more than double what the Navy was paying, he jumped at the opportunity. And jump he did! It was here he met the love of his life, JoAnn Block, when she shyly delivered forms to the office where he worked. Not wanting to appear too forward, he casually began stopping by her desk daily to eat the Orange Slice candy she kept in a candy dish. (Wayne hated Orange Slices). After a few months, they started dating, and on August 1, 1954, JoAnn Block became JoAnn Fry, making him the happiest guy in the world. A mere 9 months later, their first son was born. It was then Wayne, who had long wanted to complete his engineering degree, learned of a program being offered at Seattle University that was offering night classes which would enable him to work during the day while earning his degree. Shortly thereafter in the summer of 1955, he, JoAnn, and their newborn, packed up and moved to Seattle.

Over the next 8 years, Wayne worked by day for several engineering firms in Seattle, steadily increasing his knowledge of mechanical engineering, while at night increasing his course credits at Seattle University. All the while he was also growing his young family with the addition of a second son in 1957 and a daughter in 1958. Working at times, 3 jobs and raising 3 children under the age of 8, he persevered earning his Mechanical Engineering degree in June of 1963. To all who knew him, this was no surprise. He was known for his humility, hard work, grace under fire, and positive attitude. The word “no” was not part of his vocabulary. This was all on display throughout his life.

After graduation, Wayne began working for Dunham/Bush heading their commercial refrigeration department in Seattle. This was a fortuitous move for him, as he would steadily climb within the organization and become known and respected by the company CEO, Cecil Boling. In 1965 he and mom welcomed their fourth child, another son.

After 10 years at Dunham/Bush, rising to manager of the Seattle office, Wayne received an offer from Cecil Boling, the former CEO of Dunham/Bush, to take over The Cecil Boling Company in Denver. He accepted and fulfilled his dream of becoming his own boss and owning a refrigeration and cooling company, Fry Equipment Company! In July of 1973, Wayne, JoAnn, and three of the four children (the oldest now grown) once again packed up and continued their adventure in Colorado!

He had always loved flying and had dreamed of becoming a private pilot since he was a young boy. This dream, to some, appeared to be out of his reach as Wayne had lost an eye in an accident at the tender age of 4. Pilots needed to have 20/20 vision in both eyes, and that was not possible for Wayne. But, as mentioned before, “no” was not in his vocabulary. He did his research and began taking flying lessons, and soon he was awarded one of the first private pilots’ licenses issued to a person with only one eye. Over the next 30 plus years he shortened his travel and time out of the office by flying to customers. What had previously been an out of office trip of one or two days was reduced to a morning out of the office and back after lunch. He and JoAnn crisscrossed the country many times visiting family, friends, and attending special events in his first plane, “Mike”, a Mooney Executive and then in his second Mooney, “2YankeeZ”. He treasured his memories of fly ins to Oshkosh Wisconsin and weekly breakfasts with his flying buddies who became family. Wayne always said he felt totally at peace and free when he was in the air, and said selling his last plane in 2011, at the age of 80 was like a death in the family. He may have sold the plane but never retired his wings in his heart.

A major highlight of his life occurred in 1993. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Washington DC was working with UNESCO on behalf of the Polish government to develop a method of dehumidifying the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow. The salt mine is the home of religious sculptures, carvings and paintings all created from crystalline salt. Humidity was deteriorating the art and a solution was needed to stem the problem. Wayne was recognized as a Mining Expert and was asked to travel to Poland to address the situation. While there, he consulted and designed a dehumidification system for the mine, thus saving the invaluable works of art and is credited publicly with “Saving the Mine”. But again, he never bragged about this accomplishment, he just saved the day, as always, and went on with life.

Wayne walked the earth for 94 short years and left it a better place than he found it. He will be missed. Sadly, this is where the adventure ends and yet, it will live forever through all of us.

Wayne was preceded in death by his Son, Jeffrey August (Linda) of Kenmore, WA. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, JoAnn, his sons, Gregory Wayne (Carolyn) of Bonney Lake, WA and Eric Matthew (Lindsey) of Englewood, CO, daughter Valerie Ann Marbury (Brian) of Castle Rock, CO, 7 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren, and 1 great great grandchild.

Memorial Mass: 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 28, 2025

St. Thomas More Catholic Church

8035 S. Quebec Street

Centennial, CO 80112

Luncheon Reception to follow mass.