Wayne followed his brother Homer to Alaska in 1954. His brother owned and operated the "Terminal Garage". Kenai was a small town (fishing village) at the time. When Wayne had the money he bought a small lot about 1 mile out of town and built a 2 room cabin out of logs, then moved his family from Oregon. They stayed with his brother until the home had running water and a sewer system. A must before Kathleen (Kay) would move into it. Later they divided the two rooms into 2 bedrooms, a bath, living room, and kitchen. Later they added a larger addition which also had another bedroom, bath and a large room for a living room. The old one was turned into a dining room.

Wayne was one of the first men to organize a fire department in the town of Kenai. After fighting a fire he was all covered with smoke and ashes so the guys he was with named him Smoky. The name stuck with him for the rest of his life.

After his brother died, Wayne went to work as a heavy duty mechanic in the construction field. He worked on almost all the roadways in Alaska at one time or another.

His favorite pastimes were his home, wife, children, grandchildren and FISHING. He had a 15 foot boat that he took on the now famous Kenai River and fished for King and Red Salmon. Eating the picnic was also a favorite. Skilak Lake and Hidden Lake were the other favorite spots for him to take his family boating and fishing.

After retiring from construction, Smoky opened his own garage, named "Smoky's Garage", near his home. His wife Kay helped him run it by driving to Anchorage for parts and by doing all the books. (Source: Brøderbund WFT Vol. 13, Ed. 1, Tree #3328, Date of Import: 6 Oct 1999)