Wayne’s Walk
Candy Puterbaugh
50plus Magazine
Some people think Wayne Sabin walks on water. At 90 he has a powerful build, a gentle demeanor and giant smile that draws people to him. In fact, up to a dozen join him every Wednesday at Milwaukie Center’s paved nature trail near his home. In all weather, they “Walk with Wayne,” trading the city hubbub for the hush of nature.
“Fifteen years ago I needed someone to walk with,” Wayne says, “and I first walked with a minister. She suggested I start a group and Walk with Wayne was born. I invited people and they started showing up. I had no idea it would be so successful or long-lived! What I enjoy most is the fellowship — being with them and talking.”
The group has missed only one day this winter due to snow.
“When we walk, we watch the birds and trees, talking about everything — politics, what’s happening in the world, sports,” Wayne says. “We have to talk about sports — especially football! Afterward, we meet for lunch at a nearby restaurant.”
On a recent 38-degree Wednesday, three retirees joined in. Karl Berger, 65, has been with the group for four years. He met Wayne at Alcoholics Anonymous.
“Walk with Wayne is a social thing,” Karl says. “I don’t have a car, so I walk a lot. This feels like such a safe place to walk. Wayne is warm-blooded and never gets cold! I can always count on him to be here.”
Virginia Pai, 67, has walked with Wayne for six years, since seeing a notice at the Milwaukie Center. “I’d walked for years on my own. I like walking, and Wayne’s group is good company. They’re fun, I feel safe here, and there are no hills!”
Polly played the bassoon in the Oregon Symphony and is the grandmother of 12. “I wasn’t always a walker but thought it would be good for me and I really like it” she smiles.
As a child, Wayne loved to run. Growing up between two sisters in New Mexico, he recalls winning a 50-yard race at a Kiwanis picnic in third grade. “I still have my blue ribbon!”
Wayne played football and ran track at Springfield High School, at one time holding the record for the 440-yard dash. Sports kept him in school, he says. At PSU he lettered in football and track.
The day he graduated with a degree in Health and Physical Education from the U of O he was commissioned in the Marine Corps, serving two years in Okinawa then traveling the world.
Crediting his service for giving him discipline, he touts his next years teaching and coaching every sport at a small Cascade Locks school as his training ground. “Coaching varsity football there showed me my future.”
That future included teaching physical education, science and math, and coaching high school track and field for 30 years in Germany, which he’d fallen in love with during his travels. He returned to Oregon upon retirement, knowing he had an important challenge to face: alcoholism.
“I started drinking as a high school sophomore,” he says. “It made me happy and answered all my problems. Alcohol was my God for 50 years. When I sobered up 25 years ago, I found my real God.”
Today, as father of two daughters, husband and stroke survivor, he still gets calls from kids he coached — with thanks and for training advice. One invited him to a masters track and field event.
“It was my first time seeing a masters competition,” he says. “These old guys were throwing stuff around and I thought, ‘I can do that!’ I taught myself to throw the hammer, shot, discus, javelin and superweight — and loved it. I couldn’t run or jump anymore but I could throw!”
Becoming a top regional age-group thrower, to this day he holds the American masters 25-pound superweight indoor throw record for ages 80-84.
These days Wayne competes in three meets a year and regularly works out, practices throwing and walks on Wednesdays.
“I owe my longevity to exercise,” he says. “And it has to be enjoyable. I’d advise others to do something daily. Be active and be around people. I was born with the gift of being upbeat and positive. Walking on Wednesdays is like going to church because I’m around people I enjoy.”
Candy Puterbaugh is a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, groan-inducing punster, writer, competitive runner, pet lover and tender of gardens.