From Facebook	From the 1995 yearbook	From the 2005 yearbook

The officers and members of the Jacksonville Retired Firefighter Association are saddened to report that

Retired JFRD Captain Wayne E Watts  passed away Friday November 11, 2022.

Wayne was was hired march 15, 1988. Wayne Edward Watts Jr. born November 12, 1961 died in his home surrounded by his children and devoted wife of 30 years in Panama City, FL after a painful and courageous 6 year fight with appendix cancer on November 11, 2022. He is survived by his mother Sandra Mauldin; his father Wayne E. Watts Sr.; his sister Sandra Ceravolo; his brother Edward E. Watts, and their loving families; his wife Mary “Tracy”; their children Samuel Watts, Alexander Khan, Elizabeth Watts-Shaver, Heather Keen, Joshua Watts, and their families; as well as aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.

Wayne graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in Jacksonville, FL in 1980. He earned his AA from Florida Community College of Jacksonville in 1990, his Bachelor’s from Phoenix University in 2001 and his Master’s Degree in Public Administration in 2009.

He was a devoted public servant as he entered the Fire Service in Alabaster Alabama in 1980. He served in the fire department as and a Sheriff’s deputy in Fernandina Beach for several years before serving almost 30 years in the Jacksonville Florida Fire Rescue department, where he rose to the rank of Captain in the combat side. He was a paramedic as well. After retiring from Jacksonville he spent 18 months with South Walton Department and then became Assistant Chief and then Chief of Panama Coty Fire Department. He moved from there to the Florida State Fire Marshall Department. While there he coordinated the efforts to plan and erect the state Fire Fighters Memorial. He retired from the Fire Marshall’s office in February of 2022. He was a reservist in the Coast Guard and was called to active duty for Desert Storm. He earned Florida Fire Educator of the Year in 2008 and made numerous trips to the Caribbean and South America for Florida Association for Volunteer Action in Caribbean and the Americas. IN addition, he took great pride in participating and teaching a t North West Florida Volunteer Firefighter weekend for almost 20 years.

He attended the Episcopalian Seminary in North East Florida, as well as the Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin. He was ordained in 2017 and was able to baptize all his granddaughters. He served as associate pastor of Trinity Lutheran and several other local churches as the needs and opportunities arose.


Services
VISITATION
Thursday
November 17, 2022
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Kent Forest Lawn Chapel
FUNERAL SERVICE
Friday
November 18, 2022
11:00 AM
Trinity Lutheran Church
1001 West 11th Street
Panama City , FL 32401