Wayne Durham

(From Parker Mortuary)

Ira “Wayne” Durham was born October 31, 1930, in Frederick, Oklahoma, to Ira Otis Durham and Lottie Belle Durham (née Love). Around 1933, the family moved to Sand Springs, Oklahoma, where Wayne attended grades 1-12.

As a young boy, his mother Lottie began to study the Bible, with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Wayne would accompany his mother to Christian meetings over in Tulsa, via a street car. As a teenager, he was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.







In 1950, in New York at a convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses, he met his wife of 62 years - Carolyn June Davis of Des Moines, Iowa, the two were wed January 21,1951 in Des Moines. On January 7, 1952, they welcomed the birth of their first child, a daughter, Rachel. Soon after, in 1953, Wayne moved his small family back to Sand Springs. On September 24,1956, the couple welcomed a son, David Wayne.

Wayne was a hardworking man with a knack for learning skills and excelling in them. One of his earliest jobs was helping his father with work connected to the Charles Page Orphanage and Trust, caring for Shell Creek Lake and Park - the town's drinking water source - installing water taps and meters throughout the community. He later worked at National Trailer Convoy repairing trucks and trailers and assisting with construction projects. Over the years, he mastered metal forming, welding, carpentry, cabinet and furniture construction, and stone and brick masonry. He also trained as a journeyman meat butcher. During the construction boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Wayne took on siding, fascia, soffit, and door and window installation for new homes, eventually transitioning into full-time homebuilding in the mid-1960s. In 1965, he became a partner in the development of a subdivision in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

In the 1970s, Wayne—along with his son David—began volunteering to help remodel and build places of worship known as Kingdom Halls. In the decades that followed, Wayne - often accompanied by Carolyn - continued to enjoy having a share in the construction of over a hundred different Kingdom Halls throughout Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

As Wayne got older, he always kept his hands busy by exploring and mastering hobbies—gardening, beekeeping, picking pecans/walnuts, baking, and even sewing and quilting—often while sporting his trademark hickory-striped overalls.

Wayne passed away in his home on December 17, 2025. He is survived by his children, Rachel Reese (Lloyd) of Shelbyville, Kentucky, and David Durham (Andrea) of Joplin, Missouri; three grandchildren, Aaron Reese (Leah) of Georgetown Kentucky, Jamin Reese (Lana) of Beech Grove, Indiana, and Kendall Burton (Caleb) of Joplin, Missouri; and one great-grandchild, Aubrey Whitlock of Joplin, Missouri. Wayne is preceded in death by his wife, Carolyn Durham, his half-brother Everett White, half-sister Winne Miller (Ira), and nieces, Betty Morrison and Martha Saska.

Cremation arrangements provided by Parker Mortuary. No formal arrangements are planned.

Wayne's family would like to thank the management of Mercy Village where he lived for the last several years, as well as his neighbors and friends he acquired while living there.