Wayne Darold SANDERS

SANDERS, NEKOROSKI

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/10/2007 at 19:53:34

Topanga Messenger, Topanga, CA
6/10/2002

Wayne Sanders: March 24, 1923 - May 15, 2002

Long-time Topangan Wayne Darold Sanders died on May 15. He was 79. Wayne was born on March 24, 1923, the youngest in a large family in the small farming town of Eagle Grove, Iowa. His father, a general contractor, due to difficult economic circumstances brought on by the Great Depression, brought the family to California in 1936. They first lived in a small house in Santa Monica Canyon and then moved to Venice where Wayne attended Venice High School. His family then moved to the Tehachapi Mountains for the sake of his father's health. Wayne assisted as a caregiver to his aging parents, and as his father's health improved, Wayne worked as a cowboy on a neighboring ranch. With the onset of World War II, Wayne joined the Navy and served in the South Pacific as an aircraft mechanic. After the war he worked for his brothers Tom and Walt in the construction industry.

Wayne married his wife Felicia Carolina Nekoroski in 1949, a marriage of more than 52 years. Living first in Venice, Wayne then moved his family to Topanga Canyon in 1956, where all the family enjoyed the trees, creeks, mountains and close-knit neighborhood. In 1947 he began a 37-year career as a propmaker in the film industry, with many of those years at MGM Studios. He constructed sets for many famous and not-so-famous films including Ben Hur, Camelot, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pennies from Heaven (remake), Logan's Run and White Buffalo. In television he worked on series such as Rawhide, FBI, ABC Movie of the Week, Man from U.N.C.L.E and C.H.I.P.s. Wayne's interests included vintage cars, archery, hunting, square dancing and socializing with friends around the pool table. We will surely miss him.

Wayne is survived by his wife Felicia; his three children Wayne, Jr., Bruce and Susan; and six grandchildren, Danielle, Karen, Jessica, Samantha, Megan and Keenan.