Wayne’s story

Wayne was born on November 8, 1940 in Dauphin, Manitoba to Christopher and Olive (Hockridge) Attwood. Wayne’s dad, Chris, joined the army and went overseas in the fall of 1942 during World War II. Before Chris left, he helped build a tiny, two room house on the Hockridge property for Olive, Wayne and Wayne’s older sister, Irene. Irene remembers the “globe” piggybanks they had and how they could point out where their dad was, acting as a rear-gunner, among other duties in the war.

In 1944, Olive purchased the family home in Dauphin where Wayne grew up. Chris returned to Canada in 1945. Wayne’s two younger sisters were born, Marlene in 1946 and Wendy in 1955. Wayne enjoyed growing up here with cousins nearby and his best friend, Maurice, at the corner. Wayne got along well with his sisters and it usually only took a “look” from Olive for Wayne to obey.

Wayne was a good student. He loved woodworking and took an Industrial Arts specialty in high school. “Wayne was a perfectionist to the highest degree,” his sister, Irene, says of his work. That never changed.

It was not a custom for Wayne and his family to attend church. However, when Wayne was seven, John Main, a co-worker of Chris at Massey Harris, asked if the children could attend Sunday school at Dauphin Bible Mission Church. Week after week, the children would walk the two and a half blocks to church. In time, they all became involved in programs and presentations. Chris and Olive always attended these events and especially enjoyed hearing Wayne speak when he got older. Though Irene does not know a specific moment when Wayne put his trust in Christ as Saviour, it was easy to see, by his words and his choices, that Wayne loved God with his heart, soul, mind and strength and that he wanted to follow Jesus.

Muriel became Wayne’s first, and only, girlfriend when he was almost 15 and she, 16. Wayne and Muriel went to Dauphin Collegiate Technical Institute and both attended the same after school club. Though Muriel lived on a farm, she would often stay in town at the apartment of her older sister, Mayvis. Wayne would always walk her there after club. Wayne never asked Muriel out on a date, so when Sadie Hawkins Day approached, Muriel decided she would remedy this. She and a few friends were chatting about which boy each of them would invite to the youth group bonfire, since this was the one and only day of the year when it would be acceptable for a girl to ask a guy out. When others picked Wayne Attwood, Muriel declared, “Too late! He already said ‘yes’ to me!!!!”

Morgan Brown, the teacher who led the Inter-School Christian Fellowship, arranged carpooling rides that evening to bring all the youth to Dauphin Lake for a wiener roast. The turnout of teenagers meant that they were jam-packed in the vehicles. Not worried about seat belts (because there were none!), Wayne graciously offered to let Muriel sit on his knee, to make more room!! She accepted and they became an inseparable couple from that day.

With Wayne as the president of his church’s youth group and Muriel as the leader of the Durston country church youth group, many of their dates consisted of shared events among the youth. Wayne was soon able to drive his car, a black Ford Prefect, to the Beer farm on Sunday afternoons where he would join them for dinner. Wayne often played crokinole with Muriel’s father, Charles. Charles would tease Wayne that Wayne would have to win a game in order to get his daughter’s hand.

When Wayne and Muriel graduated from high school, Wayne decided to attend Briercrest Bible College in Caronport, Saskatchewan. He was familiar with the school, having preached there during the summer. At 18, Wayne was already a fairly experienced Bible teacher, having regularly taken that role at the youth group and his church. It was quite amazing that Wayne was such a good speaker, seeing as he struggled with stuttering. During Wayne’s last visit to a Sunday service at Callander Bay Church, Wayne shared with the children that, like Moses, God had chosen him in his weakness, and through God’s strength, not his own, he was able to speak well. All who have listened to him teach would easily attest to that.

During his studies, Wayne took various summer jobs. Muriel remembers the tragic time when Wayne worked as a forester for the highways department. A forest fire ended up engulfing one of Wayne’s co-workers, taking his life. Wayne’s deep joy in the pain was that he had recently shared the gospel with his co-worker and had confidence that this man was with Christ.

Muriel worked for the Manitoba Telephone Company until Wayne’s third and final year of Bible College when she joined him for a year of studies. On Christmas Eve, 1961, Wayne proposed to Muriel at his parents’ home. They were married at Dauphin First Baptist Church on September 15, 1962. Muriel remembers a particularly unique incident at the ceremony. Wayne’s father, Chris, was a ham radio operator and his vehicle license plate number was his ham radio call sign. A fellow operator happened to be driving past the church. Noticing the license plate, he decided to radio Chris with a message. Oddly, the message came in loud and clear — through the speaker of the organ!!!!

After a week-long honeymoon at Lake Winnipeg, Wayne and Muriel packed their suitcases, loaded all their wedding gifts into a wooden box Wayne had built, and boarded the train for North Bay. Wayne had completed a short-term mission project in his second year of college. He had worked with Child Evangelism Fellowship, running children’s clubs for churches all over Northern Ontario. One place they stopped had been in North Bay with Earl and Holly Pannabecker, the founding pastors of Lakeshore Church. So, because of the friendship and ministry that had begun, Wayne and Muriel decided to go back to build a life there.

Wayne and Muriel first moved into 728 Lakeshore Drive with Earl, Holly, Michael, David, and Bonnie. They had church every Sunday in the living room, including Sunday school classes held in every space – even the bathroom!

Eventually, Wayne and Muriel moved to their own apartment on First Avenue, and Todd was born in October 1964. The next year, Wayne decided to go to university. He had always wanted to become a professional engineer. He applied to several schools. All but Laurentian University wanted him to complete grade 13. So, the three of them moved to Sudbury. Lynn was born here in July of 1966.

Because Laurentian did not offer the fourth year of an engineering degree, Wayne and Muriel moved to Toronto. Mrs. Shiplett took care of Todd and Lynn, while Muriel worked at Bell Canada and Wayne studied. Here, they attended Banfield Missionary Church and became good friends with Alf and Lila Reese. Wayne and Muriel used their Biblical training to help the Reeses with church work.

Once Wayne completed his engineering degree with a specialty in structural engineering, he accepted a job at Ontario Hydro in North Bay as a manager. This job eventually took the Attwoods from North Bay to Toronto, Blind River, and back to North Bay again. They had hoped to have another child very soon after Wayne started in his first position at Hydro, but it wasn’t until July of 1972 that Kemp was born in North Bay. Muriel had a very difficult delivery and doctors strongly suggested that she not give birth to any more children. Muriel and Wayne were confident they did not want Kemp to be their youngest child and so they began investigating adoption when Kemp was 18 months.

Wayne’s work alongside Earl Pannabecker was very valuable to the growth of the body of Christ in Northern Ontario. Wayne and Muriel were Earl and Holly’s longstanding partners in ministry and like family to each other. Earl and Holly were “grandma and grandpa” to all the Attwood children and Wayne and Muriel were “aunt and uncle” to Bonnie, Michael, and David.

The Pannabeckers came to North Bay in​ 1960 with the goal to establish Missionary churches in Northern Ontario. Earl and Holly started Lakeshore, South Shore, and Eau Claire churches and also had congregations in Kiosk and Markstay. Earl would conduct services at all these locations every Sunday and Holly would play a portable organ that she would pump with her foot to provide volume. Wayne shared the load, each of them traveling and taking turns preaching. Muriel’s desire was to have a consistent church home for the children and so the family decided to attend South Shore every week. Wayne stayed there as the regular preacher until Bruce and Pauline Clark took their place. Wayne was an articulate preacher, effective Bible teacher, and dynamic youth and children's worker, all with Muriel assisting by his side.

On Laurentian Avenue in North Bay, Muriel and Wayne were meeting roadblocks in the adoption process. Children’s Aid had suggested children who were significantly older than Todd, Lynn, and Kemp and they did not feel this to be the best fit for their family. They sought the help of a Timmins doctor who had been working to find forever homes for Ontario children. Not long after he became involved, the social worker met with Wayne and Muriel and presented a picture of Bryn. This was early 1977 and Bryn had been born on September 21, 1976. The social worker asked if the answer was “yes” or “no”. Muriel explained that they needed to pray and ask God to clearly show them if they were to accept. The social worker gave a swift deadline.

When that day came, Wayne and Muriel did not have a sense of direction and so Wayne called the social worker and refused the offer. They could not understand what God was doing but firmly believed that He would give clear direction. The next day, Muriel opened “The Daily Bread” devotional. The entry for the day was based on this scripture: “When Moses’ mom arrived, the Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this baby and nurse him and I will pay you well.’” (Exodus2:9). Wayne called the social worker back and it was not too late to change their minds. Muriel and Wayne have been “well paid”! All of us are so thankful for the tremendous blessing of Bryn.

There was a six-month probation time when Children’s Aid could still make the decision to remove Bryn from the Attwood home. No issues, including the fact that Bryn was born Catholic and should not have been placed in a Protestant home, were a deterrent to this match made by God. When four-year-old Kemp knew that Bryn would permanently be his brother, he declared, “You’re my little brother and I LOVE YOU!!” That has never changed; it has only grown stronger. Kemp and Bryn enjoyed a very memorable family trip to Kenya in 1988 when Wayne and Muriel served as missionaries with Word of Life Outreach for three months.

Muriel’s nephew Corry moved in with Wayne and Muriel during high school. After graduating, he stayed in North Bay and his family continued to be an extension of the Attwoods’. Corry’s children would always ask to come over so they could play in Grandpa’s “little room” (a room above the stairs with only a 5-foot ceiling). Wayne and Sam-Jin made wooden blocks for them to play with, and they always loved it when Grandpa got down on the floor and played cars with them. In Corry’s words, “Wayne loved me like one of his own and he showed that same love to my children. He was an amazing man who lived his life treating everyone with love and respect.”

1991 was a memorable year as it was the last time Wayne, Muriel, and all the children were living in the same city, North Bay. Wayne’s retirement from Ontario Hydro in 1993 marked a close from employment and from active church ministry as well. With the freedom to travel and start new projects, Wayne and Muriel began a meaningful, active stage of life as seniors. As well as helping many others, he ran a small business selling outdoor woodstoves, wagons, and doing carpentry.

Their heart for gospel ministry shifted further north to the arctic with their daughter Lynn and son-in-law Paul serving with Northern Canada Evangelical Mission in Fort McPherson. They made many trips to the North West Territories to help with the ministry, to oversee the construction of a church building, renovate the Hanthorn home and enjoy their grandchildren.

Wayne contributed so much to his children. In addition to their ministry up north, Wayne helped Todd build a home in 1999, he renovated Bonnie’s trailer cottage, he hiked and canoed often when Kemp came home for visits, enjoyed many Sunday afternoons with Bryn and Stacy, and spent much quality time completing countless woodworking projects with his grandchildren. Wayne built trails on Todd’s property which have been enjoyed by the whole family.

Before traveling to Fort McPherson to renovate Lynn’s home, Wayne worked for four years building a state-of-the-art workshop on Todd’s property. He finished just before he left, hoping to come home and enjoy it for several years.

Wayne passed away suddenly while he and Muriel were visiting with family and friends at Liard Hotsprings, British Columbia, on their way home from Ft. McPherson. After many months working in the north, Wayne and Muriel enjoyed driving the Dempster Highway in the fall season, stopping often to take photos and take in the sights. They celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, September 15th, and traveled another 600km east the next day to Liard River in northern British Columbia. There they met and visited with one of their granddaughters, Annah, her husband Maph, great-granddaughter Amy, Maph’s parents visiting from Germany and the Johnson family, friends from Whitehorse. 

Wayne approached everything he did with an attitude of diligence and with the goal of excellence. This was seen not only in his carpentry and building projects. It was evident not only in his role as a manager at work or a bible teacher at church. It was reflected in every relationship he had. You and I, and especially his dear wife, Muriel, are the blessed recipients of this devoted, unwavering, and generous love. We are all richer. May we honour Wayne and his Lord and Saviour, Jesus, by living lives that will be pleasing to them.