Phillip “Phil” Wayne passed away peacefully at his home in Sitka on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, at the age of 89.
Phil’s arrival on Feb. 7, 1937, was featured in the Corbin Times as the first cesarean birth in Laurel County, Kentucky. He attended the University of Northern Colorado on a football scholarship before transferring to Western State College to study theater. While playing Macduff in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” he met Kathy Stone, who became his wife and partner for 67 years.
They married that summer and began building a family — Dan, born in 1960; Howard, in 1962; and Stacey, in 1963. Phil taught school, worked weekends at his father’s Conoco station and sold real estate after school.
In 1968, Phil loaded 8-year-old Dan into his Volkswagen and set off in search of work in a state that paid a living wage. He found teaching jobs for himself and Kathy in Anchorage, then returned to Denver, loaded his family and belongings onto a flatbed truck, and drove the Alcan Highway to Alaska.
In 1969, the family moved to Wrangell, where Phil taught fifth and sixth grades until his retirement in 1986.
Phil believed education extended far beyond the classroom. With Leroy Fennimore and Janice Emde, he helped create Vank Island Camp, where fifth graders spent the final week of school living in cabins, learning outdoor skills and experiencing Alaska firsthand.
He also helped establish KSTK public radio, applying for its license and recruiting early volunteer announcers, including his son Dan. Phil and Kathy were also an organizing force behind community schools in Wrangell.
With his friend Terry Crenshaw, Phil started the wrestling program at Wrangell High School in the early 1970s and coached for 15 seasons. Wrestling suited him well. He was a lifelong weightlifter and fitness enthusiast. At just 5-feet-6, he was nevertheless famously imposing. Friends will remember him clean and jerking 6-foot-2 Terry over his head as a party trick.
Phil was happiest at his cabin on Niblack Island, teaching Howard to field a baseball, or competing in everything from bridge to tennis.
Phil is survived by wife, Kathy; sons Dan Wayne (Kathleen) and Howard; daughter Stacey (Bart Meyer); grandchildren Anna and Nelli Wayne, Sam Woolsey (Meg Mielke) and Caitlin Woolsey (Keith Grenier); and great-grandchildren Jens Grenier, June Grenier, Ione Woolsey and Clio Woolsey.
A small family celebration will be held at a later date.
