Kenneth "Wayne" Heckle

Kenneth Wayne Heckle Sr. (Wayne) was born November 6, 1944, the fourth of five children of William Heckle Sr and Betty McKay Heckle. He was born and raised in Orlando, Fl. The family was very close and spent any spare time available camping, hunting and fishing. Wayne frequently accompanied his father to do air conditioning service calls, during which time, he developed considerable skills. Their dad also frequently took them to the stock car races at Sunbrock Speedway. Wayne was quite athletic, although not very big. He played Little League Baseball, in which he hit the only grand slam home run; and High School football for Boone High School. After graduation from high school, Wayne joined the Pipefitters and Plumbers Local Union and completed the 5-year apprenticeship program to become a Journeyman. The skills that he had learned from his father helped him to excel in this field. In 1983, Wayne was presented with an opportunity to work at Kennedy Space Center for the Shuttle Program. He was the Mechanical Lead at the Launch Equipment Test Facility for ten years and then transferred to the Cryogenics lab. In October, 2000, Wayne was presented the Silver Snoopy Award, one of the highest awards issued by NASA.

In high school, Wayne noticed a skinny little 16 year old girl, named Sandy Cramer, with big glasses and for some reason, liked what he saw. They eloped and were married when she was still a junior in high school and he had to sign her report cards. While virtually no one thought they would make it, they celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on April 11, 2019. Wayne and Sandy had two awesome children, Kenneth Jr. (Kenny) and Kimberly. He was so very proud of his children and loved them beyond belief. From these two children, they were blessed with four wonderful grandchildren, Cason, Morgan, Brandi and Conner. They were the light of Wayne’s life. He attended all the ball games and functions that he could until he became too ill to do so.

The Friday night trips to the stock car races had a lasting effect on Wayne. A few years after graduating high school, Wayne and his childhood friend Tommy Funk built a stock car and Wayne started driving it. He was REALLY BAD when he first started. He wanted to win before he learned to drive. However, as time went on, he developed into a great driver; winning over 500 feature races and numerous championships. He LOVED racing. He was inducted into the Melbourne Speedway Hall of Fame and the Orlando Speed World Hall of Fame.

He was my love, my husband, my partner and my rock for 55 years. Lead the pack Wayne Heckle.