Wayne L. Arndt

His longtime caregiver, Anne Dixon, was by his side in his last hours. Wayne was born the son of Wilbur and Florence Davis Arndt on September 23, 1944 on a small farm outside Cleveland Ohio. He lost his father, a fireman, at the age of five and his mother remarried later.

He graduated from Cuyahoga Heights High School in 1962 and then achieved a B.S. degree in Industrial Arts teaching at Wilmington College. Wayne was class president of his graduating class in 1970 at Wilmington. He also was awarded a Master’s Degree at Colorado State University. Before college, Wayne served in the communications area of the Eighth US Army from 1965-1967 and was in Vietnam and Korea where he became nearly fluent in the Korean language. He was honorably discharged in 1967.

Wayne’s first teaching experience was on the Navajo reservation for two years. He was part Native American of the Delaware nation and most likely influenced the young people he taught on the reservation. The mountains of Colorado called to Wayne and he moved to Fort Collins in 1974 to further pursue his teaching career. He taught at all three high schools over the years. He began at Poudre High School and was a dedicated and innovative Industrial Arts and Technology Education teacher, even introducing the first Solar Energy curriculum in the district.

He finished his teaching tenure at Fort Collins High School. He taught, coached swimming, and officiated at district swim meets; even continuing to officiate after retiring. During his career he taught many courses including Woodworking, Occupational Trades and Industry, Girls Auto Mechanics and Wood Shop, and his Solar Energy curriculum. Throughout his years of teaching, Wayne was very active in Poudre Education Association, Colorado Education Association and Industrial Technology Education Association.

Being a mountain man at heart, Wayne appeared at the annual School District Rendezvous and visited classrooms as “Two Dogs”. He wore his buckskins and carried his muzzleloader to entertain and educate the students about that era of history. However, his most memorable and outstanding feature was his famous “Handlebar Moustache”! Always perfectly groomed unless some stray woodworking sawdust attached itself!

Wayne had a love of model railroading and passionately collected model trains and railroad memorabilia. He was a man of many interests and another of those was target shooting with various firearms. He traveled to Australia twice and loved that country. Wayne realized his dream of living in the mountains when he moved to his “Sleepy Deer Farm” in Rist Canyon. He spent the rest of his very active life teaching and coaching until retirement and also raising and selling hay on his acreage in the mountains. He loved being a farmer/rancher and having the right tractor for every purpose. He was elected to positions on the Redstone Estate Road Association and was a member of the Methodist church.

Wayne will be remembered as a good friend to many, an honest man and for his investment in educating the young people he loved to teach and coach. He was a great example of toughness with fairness combined.

Wayne was preceded in death by his parents and his older sister, Nadine Arndt Durio, who passed in 2023. He is survived by cousins Mark Davis and Lisa Davis of Ohio, cousin Jerri Howard (Tom), and nieces Jessica and Deseray and their families of Washington State.

Services will be held for Wayne on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 at Resthaven Funeral Home & Memory Gardens in Fort Collins, Colorado. For those that wish to pay their final respects, a time of visitation will begin at 10am. A Celebration of Wayne's Life will follow at 11am, after which Wayne will be honored with a Military Graveside Service. All are invited to a reception following Wayne's services.

Fond memories of Wayne are welcome at resthavencolorado.com.