Wayne Gilbert Mitts

Wayne Gilbert Mitts, 94, passed away peacefully at his home in Astoria on February 5^th, 2023. He was born at his grandparents' farm near Molalla, OR on November 7, 1928. 

At a young age he moved to Seaside, OR with his mother, Helen Yeager, & then to Hammond, OR where Wayne's stepfather Mike Yeager was a commercial clam buyer, and a foreman rebuilding the South Jetty in the 1930s. 
Wayne grew up at the beach, digging clams and delivering The Astoria Budget, "before the houses in Hammond had numbers, or even street names!" 
He watched the troop trains bringing soldiers to Ft Stevens during WWII, and salvaged blocks of butter from the beach after the wreck of the 'Vazlav Vorovsky ' in 1941. 
After the war, Wayne worked for the army, decommissioning mines at Hammond. 
He attended Astoria High School (Class of 1947), and trade school in Portland, before returning to Clatsop County and a career in the saw mills (Bradwood and Westport, OR) and maintenance (Bumble Bee Seafoods, Astoria, and the Red Lion Inn, Astoria).

Wayne married Alice M Peterson in 1953, & they lived on 6th St, Astoria, until Alice's death in 2000.
Besides work, Wayne was an avid flower gardener, and looked forward all year to setting up his elaborate home-made Christmas tree on his roof.

Besides his wife and parents, Wayne was preceded in death by a half-sister Lorraine (Yeager) (Goe) Clark of Aurora, OR, and cousin, (Gladys) Rosalie Nygren of Hammond.

He is survived by nephews Virgil Leonard Goe of Depoe Bay, OR and Kevin Allen Goe of Las Vegas, NV, nieces Debbie Lee (Goe) Meyers and Vir-Laine Ferrari, of West Linn, OR, cousin, Buddy Yeager of Seaside, and numerous great and great-great nieces & nephews...representing an extended family of Yeagers and Petersons in both Portland and Seattle.

Although Wayne outlived almost all his old friends, he will be remembered by his family and 6th St neighbors as a genuine Astoria character.

Wayne’s family would like to thank Lower Columbia Hospice for their excellent care of Wayne and for their help to his family.

A service will be held at Ocean View Cemetery, Ridge Road in Warrenton, on March 11, 2023 at 1 p.m.