WAYNE ALLAN FERGUSON

Condolences & Memories (1 entries)

• I met Wayne (known as either Fergy or Frog to his friends) in 1956 in grade 2 at Shaughnessy Park School, just after my family had moved to Manitoba Avenue in the North End of Winnipeg. Wayne was a popular name at that time, and Wayne was among the three Wayne's in our grade 2 class, along with myself, Wayne Ashley and Wayne Sefton, who lived on the same block as Wayne on Pritchard Avenue. Wayne became one of my best friends in school, along with Bob Bourrier (deceased 2022), Ken Hawkes (deceased 1965) and Jim Dickson, all three of whom lived on Pritchard Avenue. Wayne stood out as a "character" who was, to be honest, quite a wild kid when he was young. He had the ability to convince the rest of us kids to get involved in crazy childhood schemes, which often caused us all to end up in hot water from time to time. The north end of Winnipeg in the 1950s was a tough working class neighbourhood, and Wayne, despite his small skinny frame, was known for never backing down from a fight. On a hot summer day in 1961, a funny incident happened when Wayne was about 12 years old. My brother, Adrian ( known as a tough guy at age 16 at the time) became involved in an argument with Wayne out on our front lawn on Manitoba Avenue. Wayne had just purchased an ice cream cone from a vendor truck. We were all quite astonished when Wayne said to my older brother, that he might just push his ice cream cone into Adrian's face. My brother leaned very close to Wayne, presenting his face as a clear target, and said: "I dare you". Wayne then, without hesitation, pushed the entire cone into my brother's face, and then ran. We all watched as the two of them disappeared into the distance with my brother in hot pursuit. And lucky for Wayne, he could really run! Wayne told me later that they had run through the neighbourhood jumping fences etc., and that after 20 minutes my brother was still following him. Wayne said that Adrian finally gave up the chase just has Wayne was almost out of steam himself. Wayne subsequently avoided my brother for a couple of months, and then all seemed to be forgiven. Such was a day in the life on summer day in the North End in the 1960s! In our 20s we all went our separate ways as we entered adulthood. I remember Wayne as being one of the "good guys" in our neighbourhood. I have many more fond (and sometimes crazy) memories of Wayne which would be too numerous to document here. My sincere condolences to Wayne's family. And Wayne, my friend: Long may you run. - Posted by: Wayne Ashley (Childhood to teenager friend) on: Apr 06, 2026