Wayne Laurence Bergeron
December 18, 1953 - July 8, 2019
Obituary
Wayne Laurence Bergeron, 65, passed away July 8, 2019 after more than two years of bravely fighting stage 4 lung cancer.
Wayne was born December 18, 1953 in Kirkland, Washington into what became a large family with 3 brothers, 3 sisters, 16 nieces and nephews, and 20 great nieces and nephews. He graduated from Redmond High School in 1972 and with a heart for service for others, and in the footsteps of his father Wally Bergeron before him, became a volunteer firefighter in 1974. He married his wife of 43 years, Tatiana Kruchinin, in 1976 and began his career at the Bellevue Fire Department in 1981.
He built their first family home in Snohomish with the help of family and friends and always worked extremely hard to support his family, working a variety of jobs throughout his life including carpentry, truck driving, parking lot striping, firefighting, fire support services and more. He battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 1989, winning that battle, and moved to Bellevue, Washington in 1992 where he and his wife continued to raise their three sons and one daughter. He was an active member in his community, participating on local community boards, serving on the fire department’s disability board for over 30 years, and helping at his church. He was always known to help anyone at any time and spent countless hours helping and teaching his children how to remodel and build homes of their own.
He retired in 2015 and fulfilled his dream of small-town living, buying property over the mountains in Cle Elum. His hobbies included fishing, which he did in the company of good friends in Alaska for several years and every summer family camping trip for over 20 years, as well as star gazing with his new telescope in the clear, dark skies of Cle Elum. Choosing the name Laurence, he was baptized into the Orthodox Christian Church on January 3rd, 2018 at St. Nectarios Orthodox Cathedral—the church community that had known and loved him for years. Everyone who knew him at any time in his life knew his fight, tenacity, stubbornness, and strength. He was brave and loving; in good spirits even in the worst of times with a sense of humor that always made everyone smile. He was devoted to his family, the fire department, and his community, never hesitating to help anyone in need and will be greatly missed by all.
He is survived by his wife Tatiana, children; Mik (Carrie), Demitri (Tiffany), Yuri (Danielle), and Katya (Nektarios), and grandchildren; Skyler, Vivian, Landen, Brooklyn, Jack and Isla.
The funeral service will be on Friday, July 12th at 1:30pm at St. Nectarios Orthodox Cathedral 10300 Ashworth Ave N Seattle, Washington 98133. Burial to follow at 3pm at Evergreen Washelli Cemetery 11111 Aurora Ave N Seattle, Washington 98133.
A wake will be held for friends and family to socialize and reminisce on Wayne’s life on Saturday, July 13th from 3:30 – 6:30pm at North Bellevue Community Center, 4063 148th Ave NE Bellevue, Washington 98007.
Love to all the Bergeron family,
Susan & Rod Higley