Remembering Wayne Wurzer
By Brian Hews
Longtime friends of former Cerritos resident Wayne Figueroa Wurzer gathered together last Tuesday night to remember his life at the Cerritos Sheraton Hotel.
Wurzer died on Monday after a three year battle with cancer in Seattle, Washington.
A Memorial Service for Wayne was held on Friday, December 21 at 2 p.m. in Seattle at the Center for Spiritual Living. More than 500 people attended the service.
Wurzer graduated from Cerritos High School in 1980 and was a key member of the Don’s Varsity Football program. Wurzer was also active as a reporter and an editor of the school’s high school newspaper “The Informer.”
Wurzer went on to attend Cerritos College and his love for journalism grew even stronger when he became both a reporter and an editor of the campus newspaper “Talon Marks.”
Wayne then graduated with honors from California State University, Fullerton with a degree in Communications. He earned a Master of the Arts in Applied Behavioral Science from Bastyr University.
Wayne was a first-class journalist, working for eight years at The Seattle Times as a reporter and editor and later at The Seattle Post-Intelligencer as a copy editor. He was a gifted writer who worked with content at Microsoft, CitySearch, Group Health Cooperative, Ronald McDonald House and his family-owned business, All That Dance.
Wayne’s love of writing was only surpassed by his love for his children and sports. He was also
“Coach Wayne” and could be found on the fields of Seattle coaching his beloved twin boys in soccer and baseball for over five years. Wayne was a calm, caring man who never lost his sense of humor, flashing that crooked smile even through the pain of his illness.
Wayne is survived by Maygan, his loving wife of 14 years; their 9-year-old twin boys, Jackson and Tyler; daughter Whitney Davis and her husband, Scott; two grandchildren, Jordyn and Isaac; parents Richard and Sue Wurzer; brother Ron; and sister Leslie.
Wurzer documented his “journey” with cancer via the internet with touching, candid and emotional words.
“I have thyroid cancer, which is highly treatable. I also have the most treatable kind (papillary). But mine is turning out, unfortunately, to be a very challenging case,” Wurzer wrote in an online journal back in 2009.
He told his friends on line in July 2009 he had “a pain in the throat area sent me to the emergency room on a Saturday morning because I was having trouble sleeping. I thought I had strep throat. My throat hurt to the touch. The doc said it likely was “something viral” and sent me home.”
In April of 2010, Wurzer, who was a remarkable natural athlete, wrote that “after running Green Lake, I crashed with flu-like symptoms. My throat area was tender again and visibly enlarged. Thus followed a ultrasound that showed likely thryoid cancer, fine needle biopsy that confirmed.”
One of his lifelong best friends, Keith Sharon, an Editor with the Orange County Register and former resident of Cerritos spoke emotionally about Wayne at the gathering at the Cerritos Sheraton Hotel.
“We will always have Wayne in our hearts. He loved growing up in Cerritos and loved this community with all of his heart,” Sharon said.
You can read more of Wayne’s inspiring story and share your memories of Wayne for his children on his guest book atwww.caringbridge.org/visit/Waynewurzer
