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Wayne Francis Gutierrez

January 3, 1934 – February 6, 2023

Posted 3/7/23

Wayne Francis Gutierrez, a talented percussionist and father of five, passed peacefully at home in Decatur, Georgia on February 6, 2023. He was eighty-nine years old.

Wayne was born in 1934 in …

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Wayne Francis Gutierrez

January 3, 1934 – February 6, 2023

Posted

Wayne Francis Gutierrez, a talented percussionist and father of five, passed peacefully at home in Decatur, Georgia on February 6, 2023. He was eighty-nine years old.

Wayne was born in 1934 in Manhattan, NY to the late Francisco & Gloria Larrauri Gutierrez, Cuban immigrants from Havana and Matanzas, who met in New York City. Wayne later moved to New Jersey and then Norwalk, CT where he attended Norwalk High School and learned to play the drums in the school band! From his initial youthful days playing school and country club dances to his later career playing for renowned singers and bandleaders, Wayne’s love for music, especially Jazz, his devotion to his craft, practicing nearly every day of his life in order to learn new drumming styles, and his commitment to excellence in his work grew throughout his life. Indeed, he was polishing the chrome on his classic drum sets and tapping out rhythms right up until the week before his death!

Norwalk High School was also where Wayne met not one, but both, of his wives! Having graduated in 1952, Wayne first married Roberta Ann Esposito. In 1958, he married Barbara Dale Stillman who he had also originally met in high school when they both played in the band. Wayne and Dale were married for more than 64 years!

As a full-time professional musician, Wayne spent most of his 50-year career playing in New York City clubs, and, smartly dressed in a tuxedo, in the big show bands and magnificent nightclubs of the most famous Catskill and Pocono Mountain resorts: The Concord, Grossingers, Kutsher’s, Brickman’s, the Nevele Grand, The Pines, the Tamarack Lodge, the Homowack Lodge, the Raleigh, the Granit, Brown’s, Mount Airy Lodge and the Villa Roma. Over the course of his career, he played for such incredible artists as Dionne Warwick, Cleo Laine, Sonny & Cher, Rita Moreno, Lola Falana, and the Smothers Brothers, and often played the “bah-boom” punch lines for many of the “Borscht Belt’s” greatest comics.

After retiring, Wayne lived briefly with his beloved Dale in Binghamton, New York, before moving full-time to their “snow-bird” home in Port Charlotte, Florida. In 2020, Wayne and Dale moved to Decatur, GA to be closer to their children.

Wayne is survived by his loving wife, Dale; his children, Denise Gutierrez of Littleton, CO, Christopher Simpson of Littleton, CO, Maria Gutierrez of Atlanta, GA, Fonda Olsen of Mountlake Terrace, WA, Nico Gutierrez of Decatur, GA; and nine grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.