My Dear Bill and Sue-On,

 This is a time of deep sorrow for me and I would like to ask that you share this news with our many ERB friends as I am quite
lost.

 Wayne had the second of three surgeries on March 24TH and was doing quite well considering what he has gone through. His left arm was causing much pain and that is when the doctors felt the surgery was necessary.

 On Friday, April 4TH he called me at work and told me he was having indigestion and would I stop and pick up some tums for
him. When I got home I found him on the bathroom floor. The paramedics said he must have collapsed between the time he
called ma and the time I got home and that the indigestion he had been experiencing was the onset of the heart attack.

 I am not dealing very well with this so your prayers would be greatly appreciated.

 Services will be Saturday, April 12TH, in Colorado Springs.
Take care of each other.

Love,
Edie James

 
Edie:
Ginnie and I are so sorry. This is such a shock.  It’s hard to know what to say at times like these except to say that Edie has our support and, yes, our prayers.

We have lost a brother fan. I will never forget the image of Wayne setting up his tripod and video camera at every Dum-Dum or ECOF he attended and then graciously recording the proceedings for the benefit of all interested parties.  Because of him there will be a record of those events.

Thanks, Wayne, and good luck to you up there in those upper terraces…

Yours,
Dick & Ginnie Spargur

---

For once I am at a loss for words.  Our hearts go out to Edie in this difficult time for her, and the entire BB family feels the loss.

We'll miss you, Tintin -- and I'll miss the great conversations, both via e-mail and in person.  He was far too young.

AQPorter

---

My dear Edie: 
I cannot express how deeply saddened I am by the passing of your beloved Wayne.  He is a loss to us who were counted among his somewhat distant friends.  That your shock and grief is obviously many times deeper moves me to express to you how much I care about you as you go forward in his absence.  I know it will be a tangible emptiness for some time to come.  As time goes by, the gap does dissipate but Wayne will always be a part of your life.  You are very much in my prayers.
Much love to you and yours, 
DJ Howell

---

Dear Edie -

I'm so sorry to hear about this...  We loved Wayne and will certainly be praying for your family.  All the best, and God bless.

Sky Brower (the ape-man)

---

This is terrible and so sad.  I met Wayne and Edie during the Dum Dums.  What a happy, positive couple.  Always cheerful.  Everyone loved Wayne and Edie.  It just seems to me you can say one name without the other. 

Wayne was a wonderful, wonderful person.  You could tell he was a much loved man.  It is fortunate that we can observe so much of his life that is preserved on the Hillman website.

This is so unexpected because he was so young and always seem so full of life. I cannot begin to understand what Edie is feeling. 

Certainly our prayers are with her. 

Billy York 

---

Kaor, Edie, if you are reading this, Linda and I send our condolences and deepest sympathies.  A card will follow.  We have lost a great friend and a great ERB fan.

Jim Thompson

---

Wayne was a great human being. He will be sorely missed. Just a gentlemen in every respect.

Dennis Wilcutt

---

This is such a shock and so sad. Wayne was a happy, positive, outgoing guy with great energy. We never know the time or the place. . .

Dear Edie, my deepest sympathy. . .

Phil Normand

---

Very sad

I always looked forward to seeing both Wayne and Edie at Dum Dums, the last time was in Rockville in 06 when my wife and I had breakfast with both of them there.

I'm terribly sorry and both my wife Yoko and I offer our heartfelt condolences to Edie.

He was a wonderful man and half of a very wonderful and always cheerful couple. All the friends he had will indeed miss him.

Jim Hadac ( The Red Hawk)

---

Dear Edie,

Sally and I are so stunned with this sad news.  Ours hearts go out to you and we will be praying for you.  God Bless and comfort you. 

Ken (Tantor) Webber

---

This is such a shock, and I'm so sorry and still in disbelief. 

I never met Wayne, but having just gotten back into fandom in the past couple of years, Wayne was one of the first people on this list to help me out with Tarzan films, comic strips, and just general correspondence. He was thoughtful, generous, and sharing, and I always perked up when I saw he had posted something. He just recently sent me something, a matter of weeks ago, and I sent him several things....I always think of him when I have something to share. It's just very hard to conceive of not doing that, that he's not there.

I'm so very sorry to hear about this, and my my heart heavy for you and us all. Your family is in my prayers. 

Jeff Kenney

---

Our heartfelt condolences go out to Edie in this time of grief through the loss of her soul mate. It was a great shock to hear of Wayne's death, not realizing he had been ill and in hospital for surgery. He will certainly be missed by all Burroughs' fandom.

Joan and Pete Ogden

---

Wayne always seemed to have an unpretentious touch of class about him.

His passing was untimely -- far too soon -- and he leaves a good name behind him

Heartfelt condolences to his dear wife Edie.

Bruce Salen (Hadron)

---

Edie, 
Our prayers and sincere condolences to you.  Wayne truly was dearly loved and will be missed by all.   May our Lord hold you in His Loving arms during this time.

Mary (Amar) and Lou Fabian

---

When it comes to feelings, my knowledge of the English language fails; 
therefore in my own, the Frisian:

Hiel bysunder, hiel gewoan. 
gewoan in hiel bysunder minske.

Dit slacht der yn.
Ik bin alhiel ferslein troch dit neis.
Troch myn skriuwen my him wie ik him dochs wat nijer as de measte oaren.
Mien tinken is no ek bei syn frou. Wat in gemis moat sy fjilje.
En sa jong noch.
Wayne, we sille dy misse.
Edie, ik winskje dy alle sterkte ta de kommende tiid.

Metten.
M. Jonker ~ Netherlands

---

Tintin's Glory:
Some of us with European backgrounds remember that Wayne may have chosen Tintin, from a lovely character (originally Belgian, albeit comic) which as children we read, along with any bootleg copies of the English "Jane" comics we could get.  "Tintin" may well be short for tintinnabulation or "a ringing or sounding of bells" (Webster's). As in the lovely Christmas traditional movie,  Wayne certainly has gotten his angel wings……….. 

Edie, we all will miss him and will be there for you if needed.  Wayne sure was a help to many people and you both were, and are, generous with your time and talent.  I was delighted to entertain you folks for lunch in my home during our 2006 Dum-Dum.

With sympathetic support,
John Tyner ~ Quaestor (JT2)

---

Edie:
Many fond memories of both you and Wayne.  Our prayers are with you at this trying time.

The first time we met was at your home in Colorado Springs.  Tantor came down from Denver and we had a great chat.  There was at least one other time I visited you there before you moved.

My favorite was when you visited Las Vegas.  My Princess and I drove down to Circus-Circus to pick you guys up to go to our place for dinner.  What a mob scene in the lobby when we got there.  Didn't know if we'd ever find you.  But we did, and had a nice visit at our place.  The drive back to Circus-Circus was much easier.  Then our brief chats and the hike up the mountain in Tarzana at ERBCOF 2002.  These are the memories I will cherish for ever.

Bill Herr (Mors Kajak)

---

  I know Wayne only through snail mail and e-mail but certainly enjoyed a fine exchange with him from time to time as we shared information and some ERB-related philatelic items.

  Edie, please accept my deepest symathies and be assured of my prayers for you in this time of deep loss. May you receive comfort from the God of all comfort and from your family and friends.

  May you be blessed and strengthened by each caring word that comes your way, as well as by your wonderful memories.

  Very sincerely,
  John "Bridge" Martin

---

I am in shock. Wayne was such a neat guy. He graciously shared ERB items with me that I needed, and was so friendly at the Dumdums where I was lucky enough to make the in-person acquaintance of Tintin and the beauteous Kat Balouche. 

Edie, words are never adequate in these times. Just know that time is, indeed, a great healer, and that you have a world-wide support group willing to help you---just ask. 

With highest condolences,
Bob (Waldo) and Becky Hibbard 

---

I am very sadden to hear of Wayne's passing. He was a great man and I love chatting with him via e-mail and he was always a great help with suggestions and he had sent some wonderfully beautiful links when I was working on Tarzan.

Edi, you're in my thoughts and prayers. I'm sure I speak for all of us, if you need anything, we'll be there for you.

David Burton

---

With deepest regrets to Wayne's family, I have updated the erblist.com Hall of Memory page

Bruce Bozarth (Tangor)

---

Wayne was a gentleman among ERB fans, always willing to help collectors and scholars, materially and intellectually, with little regard to cost to himself.  The news saddens me.  My deepest sympathies to Edie, whom I have never met but for whom I offer up a prayer of comfort. 
Stan Galloway (Woola)

---

So sorry and we are definitely praying for you and your family. God be with you.
Gregg Stone

---

I always enjoyed running into and/or hanging out with Wayne and Edie at the conventions.

Edie, I'm so sorry for your loss.

Ghak, aka Steve Wadding

---

Edie,

My deepest condolences on your unexpected loss. Wayne and I spoke via e-mail just a few days ago, and I expressed the hope that he could join the Edgar Rice Burroughs Amateur Press Association when his surgeries were finished.

If the SubERBs chapter of the Burroughs Bibliophile or I may be of any assistance, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

Tracy Griffin

---

Dear Edie,

Our sincere condolences to you and your family.

The last couple of days were very excited for me; I was busy planning a vacation to LA. I sent an email to Wayne so that he was aware that we are coming. As it was such a busy period of planning this weekend I did not read any ERBLIST or ERBCOF emails and oversee this tragedy.

I had hoped to meet Wayne (and you) when we are in LA as we always had a good contact but never had the chance to meet each other.

I am sure we all will miss him ...

Ron de Laat

---

So sorry to hear of Wayne James "Tintin"'s passing.  I have enjoyed his posts on this list and will miss him and them.

Serena DuBois (Tavia)

---

Edie, my thoughts and prayers are with you. I know your pain all too well. It's been 7 years since Ed died and it will get easier, eventually. 

Please remember your ERB family will never forget Wayne. 

Another bright star in our ERB universe has dimmed.

Joan Bledig

---

Dear Edie and all of Wayne and Edie's friends and family:

It is  such a shock  to read of Wayne's untimely passing. Such a shock that someone so kind and generous is no longer with us. 

My earliest and most lasting memories of  Wayne and Edie come from the first time I ever attended a Burroughs gathering.  It was in Oak Park in 2005 and I was fresh off the bus (so to speak) and they were very warm and welcoming.  They were very kind and made sure the the newbie fit in during the weekend.

I spoke to Wayne by phone not long after the move to California, he said I should join the list and keep up with my new found friends.  I put it  off, as we all do, until just recently.   It with such sadness that I have read these messages today.  My deepest sympathies and condolences to Edie and all who knew Wayne.

Bill Wagner

---

Denny and I are always impressed and warmed by the camaraderie of the ERB group.  It has always felt like family.  So, when we loose a member of this family it is a great loss to us all. 

We have so many fond memories of our times with Wayne and Edie.Tthey will always be part of us. We will keep them in our hearts and thoughts!  Our love to Edie.

Denny and Nancy Miller

---

I am saddened to hear about Wayne's passing. His family will be in my prayers.

Dale "Vandor" Robinson

---

Dearest Edie,

Shirley and I were to deeply saddened to hear of Wayne's passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your families.

I had just exchanged Emails with Wayne a few weeks ago and he Emailed me a Tarzan Sunday comic strip I was missing. Wayne will be remembered as the Unofficial Video Chronicler of the DumDum and ECOF gatherings. Wayne will be missed by us all.

Love & Hugs,
Ray and Shirley LeBeau

---

In Memoriam: Wayne James
(???? – April 4, 2008)
By Jim Thompson
(This Memorium first appeared in ERBapa No.97)

It has only been six issues since I last wrote of a departed friend. Now we have lost another. At the beginning of April, Bill Hillman passed a message from Edie James to the two ERB Lists.

My Dear Bill and Sue-On, This is a time of deep sorrow for me and I would like to ask that you share this news with our many ERB friends as I am quite lost. 

Wayne had the second of three surgeries on March 24TH and was doing quite well considering what he has gone through. His left arm was causing much pain and that is when the doctors felt the surgery was necessary. 

On Friday, April 4TH he called me at work and told me he was having indigestion and would I stop and pick up some Tums for him. When I got home I found him on the bathroom floor. The paramedics said he must have collapsed between the time he called me and the time I got home and that the indigestion he had been experiencing was the onset of the heart attack. 

I am not dealing very well with this so your prayers would be greatly appreciated. Services will be Saturday, April 12TH, in Colorado Springs. Take care of each other. Love, Edie James

I posted Edie's mailing address to the lists, and both Bill Hillman and Bruce Bozarth established memorial web pages in honor of Wayne. Bill has been in touch with Edie since the funeral. She 
is staying with family, still very shaken by her tragic loss. Bill tells me she appreciated the memorial web pages with the messages from their ERB friends which she shared with Wayne's sons and sisters. She hopes to attend a Dum-Dum in the future because they had enjoyed the experience so many times. I know we all hope she will continue to remain in contact with Burroughs fandom. If you have not written a note of condolences to Edie, you can still send one to her at 1114 Mayten Tree Ct., Hemet, CA 92545. The previous week I had received an E-mail from Wayne, recounting his recent orthopedic surgeries:

-----Original Message----- From: Wayne E. James [mailto:wejames2@yahoo.com] 
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 11:46 AM
To: Diane Book; Bruce Bozarth; Donna Hathaway; Bill and Sue-On Hillman; Terry James; Ted McKosky; Sue & Rick Meadows; Christi Richman; Thompson, James; Ken Webber; Charlotte Ybarra; Diane Zand 
Subject: Surgery #2 went well

Hi All, I had my second of three surgeries last Monday. It was more involved than they had expected, but all went well. They have finally decided that infection was not the cause of the cement around the prosthesis eroding, which allowed it wobble. They are not sure what it was, but they believe that my body rejected that cement and they are going to be trying another. The first operation left me with a wire/cement/antibiotic spacer. This time the put in a temporary prosthesis with cement and antibiotic. The last operation, on May 29th, should be the new replacement prosthesis.

This surgery was somewhat harder on me than the last as they did more work in there and they used a syringe to extract bone morrow from my hip to put in my arm. Now I have a sore hip as well as a sore arm. I am still in a sling and have been applying ice packs liberally to the arm, but I am not on any external antibiotics, so no IV or pills this time around. I am just taking Tylenol for pain. They also did not staple me, but rather sewed me up this time. I tire easily and have spent most of this week in bed watching DVDs and listening to CDs. I hope to recover as fast as last time and return to work for a month before the next surgery.

And then after the third surgery, good as new? No, but better than when this started last year.

Thanks for all your well wishes, thoughts, and prayers. Wayne

Wayne had also written to me a couple of times during the spring to inquire about the DD2007 photo CD I have promised to produce. The project was almost ready and I should finish it during the first week of May. It will actually be two CDs of photos and a DVD of video provided by Dick Spargur. (By the way, a big welcome to Dick who is joining us in the ERB-APA this month!) I will send Edie a set when they are ready.

I’ve pulled my Wayne James correspondence file to remind me of some of the details of our friendship. The earliest letters and E-mails date back to 1999. Wayne registered to attend my ECOF in May of 2000, but that was the spring he was injured and was unable to attend. Edie wrote to me on May 15, 2000, to notify me that "Wayne had fallen off their roof and broken both wrists." He did send a supporting membership and received the ECOF 2000 T-shirt and other souvenirs. He had volunteered to drive others to and from the Nashville airport or around Clarksville, had he attended. We both regretted that we never got to see each other’s Burroughs collections.

Wayne had a particular interest in Disney Tarzan and McDonald’s Disney Tarzan collectibles and regularly informed other collectors via the ERB lists of unusual "DZTZ" items he had discovered, and many times provided such items to other collectors. I was one of the many beneficiaries of his thoughtfulness and kindness in that regard. On Friday, July 23, 1999, he sent me an E-mail about one of his searches, "Subject: WalMart & Toys R Us." He reported being unsuccessful in getting store displays from either store after speaking with managers who were following Disney instructions to return or destroy such items. I’ll quote his second paragraph, as it contains some of his characteristic good humor:

"As to why we were in Toys R Us last night, well that is all OJT’s fault. We just went in to get the puzzle and the third poster. We came out with a Fun Dough (like Play Doh) set, a book cover stamping set, a tree-top chase game, a watch with changeable covers and wrist bands, some stickers I did not have, and of course the puzzle, poster, and two boxes. Oh yeah, a Betty Boop doll and some PEZ machines jumped into our basket as we were wandering through the store. – Best regards, Tintin and Kat Balouche"

Wayne’s recovery was slow but by the end of 2000 he was well along mending and had gone back to work. In 2001 we continued our hunt for late appearing Disney Tarzan items and there were a few to be found. In 2003, we tracked the appearance of various Gorton’s Fisherman toys with likenesses of our friend, Denny Miller. A few more Disney Tarzan items also appeared in 2003. We also saw each other at some of the ERB gatherings in those years.

In 2004, Wayne made some useful suggestions and sent us brochures for places to see in Colorado when Linda joined me for the Ft. Collins Dum-Dum. We spent a week in Colorado seeing the Rocky Mountain National Park at Estes before attending DD2008 in Ft. Collins. That year also began the release of a new set of Barsoom titles from the Science Fiction Book Club. Since I am a member, I purchased one of each for Wayne as they came out. Wayne began using sheets from a small Disney Tarzan note pad when he wrote me notes that were included in packages he sent me. For example, in 2005 he sent me copies of Disney Animal Alphabet and Disney Counting Friends, obscure items with only one or two or fewer links to the Disney Tarzan. I think Wayne is the only fan I know who ever used any of his Disney Tarzan stationary for actual communications. I know all my similar pads are still unused and stored in my book room. Late in 2005, Wayne and Edie moved from Colorado Springs to San Jacinto, California. 

By May of 2006, they had moved to their current address in Hemet, CA. Around that time, Wayne also became the first Burroughs fan, to my knowledge, to take advantage of the US Postal Service’s option of printing postage stamps with personal images on them. Wayne went through what is apparently a somewhat complex application process to obtain permission to produce 37¢ stamps with a drawing of Tarzan. From then on, all my snail mail from Wayne carried his personal Tarzan postage. Late in 2006, Wayne sent me a photo CD of scans from a Laughlin, NV, weekly newspaper which carried ads for The Sports Bar at Tarzan and Jane’s Grill, which were located within the Golden Nugget Casino from 1988 until that time. He also included a text file with descriptive information to enhance the scans. In 2007, I sent Wayne the final volume in the SFBC Barsoom series.

On March 3, 2008, I received my last snail mail from Wayne. Ever thoughtful of other interests of his friends, Wayne had sent me a series of number 7 envelopes which had printed art in the left third of the cover. I suspect they are envelopes that fellow APA member John Martin had made, since one of them depicts the "V.I.P. Entrance Centralia P.O.," while three others depict Tarzan comic book cover images and another a Lone Ranger cartoon. I regret I did not get the DD2007 photo CDs and DVD mailed to Wayne before he left us for his journey down the River Iss.

I also have many fond memories of conversations and activities shared with Wayne and Edie at various Burroughs gatherings over the last decade. I imagine most of you fellow APA-ans do as well. But I thought you might enjoy a little peak into our correspondence. I enjoyed reviewing the file for this article. Doing so reminded me all the more vividly how friendly, thoughtful and generous Wayne was as a friend. We will miss him and he will not be forgotten.