Obituary of Wayne Elgin Calhoun

Wayne Elgin Calhoun was born to Clarence Angus and Mildred (Hunsaker) Calhoun on April 18, 1939, and departed this world on his 85th birthday on April 18, 2024. Wayne was the youngest in a family of five siblings. He grew up in Mesa, Arizona at a time when horse-drawn wagons occasionally rolled through downtown. As a youth, he worked at a variety of odd jobs including tromping cotton, packing melons, and delivering Western Union telegrams by bicycle. In a semi-delinquent adolescence, he hot-rodded a 1950 Ford—adding louvers and painting it an Easter-egg purple so flashy that his father didn’t allow him to park it in front of the house. He was athletic, and was known for his fastball and silky jump shot. He attended Brigham Young University, where he met his future wife, Catherine Graehl. Spotting a brunette who looked like Audrey Hepburn across a crowded stadium, he remarked to a friend, “I’m going to marry that girl.” Wayne and Catherine wed in the Salt Lake City Temple in 1962, and were side-by-side for 62 years, raising four children together: Scott, Craig, Danny, and Katie.

Professionally, Wayne began his career at Motorola as a recruiter. He crisscrossed the country, logging over one million air miles to hire engineers on college campuses. Tired of being away from his family, he left Motorola and purchased a Phoenix-based recruiting firm, Professional Placement, and started a sister business, Pro-Tem, a staffing agency. He had an uncanny ability to connect with people, and could not have been better suited to the work. He believed in people, and loved helping others succeed. The business grew to five locations, including satellite offices in Tucson and Flagstaff. He reluctantly retired at 77.

An avid reader, he instilled a love of literature in his children. He loved the New Yorker and the work of Jim Harrison, John Steinbeck, and Richard Ford. Wayne wrote hundreds of letters and poems to his children and grandchildren on yellow legal pads.

He served as bishop of the Mesa 25th Ward for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the mid 1980s, and is remembered for his listening skills, guidance, compassion, and sense of humor.

It couldn’t have been easy, but he seemed to effortlessly balance his professional, ecclesiastical, and home responsibilities; he moved through the world in a light and breezy fashion. Family was always the priority: he visited his beloved mother Millie each morning before work, and took the family on a vacation every year. In addition to parenting his own children, he acted as a surrogate father to four nephews who lost their own father early in life. He was proud of the achievements of his children, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews. All who had the privilege of knowing him will surely miss him.

Wayne is survived by his wife Catherine K (Graehl) Calhoun; eldest son Scott Calhoun and wife Deirdre of Tucson, Arizona; his son Craig Calhoun and wife MariAlice of McKinney, Texas; his son Danny Calhoun and wife Takako of Mesa, Arizona; his daughter Katie Calhoun (Hammond) and husband Rob Hammond of Ladera Ranch, California; ten grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Wayne will be buried next to his parents at the Mesa Cemetery in Mesa, Arizona.