RAYMOND – Wayne R. Holmquist of Raymond, Maine, passed away Dec. 17, 2020.

The son of Radcliffe and Verna Holmquist, he was the third of nine children and was born on Sept. 14, 1931, and raised on a potato farm in Westmanland in Aroostook County.

He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Anita J. Holmquist. Their sons William (Sarah) and Carl (Shelly) Holmquist. Grandchildren, Trevor Holmquist (Sarah), Kelsey Douglass (Eric), Tyler Holmquist and Caitlin Holmquist. Great-grandchildren Anthony and Gabriella Douglass and Brooklyn Holmquist. Also his brother, Judson (Leona), sisters, Linda Sharp (Warren), Fern Counes (George), and Clarice Rossignol.

Wayne realized picking potatoes wasn’t his bag and at the early age of 16 he showed his entrepreneurial spirit becoming a licensed barber and opening his own shop in New Sweden. When he was old enough he enlisted in the Navy, as did his three brothers, and was stationed in Alaska as a corpsman. After the service he took advantage of the G.I. Bill and graduated with a B.S. degree in Business from Husson College. During his college days he formed life long friendships with several classmates and an interest in educating others. It was at this time he got introduced to Anita and they hit it off on the dance floor doing the Jitter Bug and all the other dances of the day. He and Anita continued to light up the dance floor taking center stage with grace and flow even into his eighties at every wedding they attended. Wayne and Anita’s fascination with people and cultures inspired them to travel throughout Europe, Scandinavia, China, Bermuda, Hawaii and the United States and Canada always with friends or family members sharing the experience.

After graduation he’d go on to own or run more than 20 businesses ranging from Clothes Pin Manufacturing, Leather Tanning, Western Tack Sales, Heritage Metal Craft Production and Sales, Snowmobiles and Lawnmowers to Real Estate. He was motivated to pull people together to better their community and while living in Gray he served on numerous town boards and committees and was a founding member of the Gray JC’s, co-founder of United Maine Craftsman, idea man of Gray Community Endowment and Libby Hill Forest. When he and Anita moved to their beautiful home in Raymond he jumped right into the community spearheading the restoration of the Raymond Village Community UCC church helping to raise over $100,000 to restore the church to its past beauty. He also served on a board to revitalize Raymond and create a more attractive and productive business district. One of his final efforts was collaborating to establish a permanent location for the Raymond / Casco Historical Society Museum where the many local artifacts could be on display for the public to view and reflect back in time.

Wayne’s lifelong pursuit of education was near and dear to him. For years he offered his formula on how to make it rich in Real Estate through Adult Ed classes. Many of his students applied that formula successfully to make their own fortunes in Real Estate and would often thank him for his mentorship. Even in his late 70s early 80s he obtained a grant from the University of Southern Maine to develop a 3-D Printing Lab for the community of Raymond where both businesses and interested people could utilize the equipment. Up until the last couple weeks his keen interest in learning kept him busy buying books online with subject matter ranging from alternative energy to the planets of our solar system. Wayne was a true entrepreneur and had the courage to bring ideas into reality and was always looking for opportunities to invest and make a profit.

Aside from his business and philanthropic pursuits, he was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend to many. Family meant everything to him and he was always interested in how everyone was doing in their lives and willing to help in any way he could. Both he and Anita loved having people come to the lake and enjoy it and not only with their own friends but the many friends of their kids and grandkids. It was always the more the merrier in the truest sense. He will be sadly missed by his family and friends.

Unfortunately due to COVID we will not be able to hold a service at this time but once the world gets back on its axis we will hold a celebration of life gathering at the lake where he and Anita will be in the middle of it all enjoying everyone’s company.