Wayne Elsworth North Dvm

1949 - 2022

Wayne Elsworth North, DVM

Wayne Elsworth North, DVM, was born April 18th, 1949, in Sunbury, Pennsylvania and died of heart failure on December 4th, 2022, in Toledo Ohio.

It is, perhaps, somewhat apt that Dr. North's departure from this world was occasioned by the stopping of his heart, for that heart was surely given a good full run. His 73 years were lived fully and always with heart. He was a dedicated and loving father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and husband, as well as a joyous and loyal friend. There was nothing that he put his hand to that was not done to better the world.

Although he is perhaps most well-known for his work as a veterinarian to area pets and animals for the past 50 years, he is best characterized simply as a lover of beauty and life. Through his many hobbies and interests, he avidly cultivated lifelong curiosity with which to share the bounty of the world: as a gardener, beekeeper, photographer, owner of champion show dogs, member of his church choir, and baker of phenomenally decadent cakes, among other interests. He keenly valued the telling of truth, at least the truth as he saw it, and much to the occasional chagrin of his clients, friends, and family, unvarnished pronouncements sometimes fell unabashedly from his lips. To clients: "your dog is too fat." To a friend, who just renovated her kitchen at great expense: "that color paint doesn't go with your countertops." Of course, it was futile to doubt the veracity of his views, for annoyingly, he was too often right. Mostly...he was loved for such honesty. Later, when friends would regale him with a chorus of Waynisms, he would good naturedly laugh along at himself. No doubt, he is deploying his bald honesty and characteristic flair as he color coordinates the rooms of heaven. "Well," he is surely to be heard saying with cool aplomb, "they do need updating."

He graduated from Midland High School in Midland Michigan in 1967 and received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Michigan State University in 1972. It's impossible to contemplate how many animals he must have cared for as he practiced in Whitehouse, Ohio (1972 - 1978), Perrysburg (1978 - 2018), and Toledo from 2018 until his passing. He was active in his professional organizations, as a member and past president of the Toledo Veterinary Medical Association, member of the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association, and the American Association of Veterinary Medicine. He was a former member and past president of the Perrysburg Kiwanis Club.

From 1971 until 2008, he was married to Sara Huber, née Mayhew and together they raised three children.

He was committed to bettering his community. Perhaps his most impressive community project concerned the Gardner Memorial Chimes in the belltower of Trinity Episcopal Church. Having joined Trinity Episcopal after St. Mark's Episcopal was closed and having found the Gardner Chimes silenced by age and financial constraints, he initiated a public fundraising campaign in 2014 to restore them. The necessary $55k was raised within one month. The legacy of Dr. North's fundraising skill and philanthropy will reverberate in the hearts of all who hear the chimes each time they resound downtown and across the Maumee. Among his other philanthropic endeavors, he served for several years as the veterinary advisor and was a Past President of the local chapter of the Assistance Dogs of America. Beginning in 2006 he served as an instrumental Board member of the Holiday with Heart Charity, the longest running LGBTQ+ fundraiser in Northwest Ohio.

Poignantly, at the Holiday with Heart Charity Gayla exactly 17 years prior to the day of his death, Dr. North met David Bingham, the man with whom he would eventually make a home in an Old West End historic house and later marry in a joyfully defiant ceremony on Inauguration Day in 2017.

He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, John C. and Clara A. (Hanley) North; maternal grandparents, Percy C. and Mary C. (Brandt) Hewitt; parents, Rev. Dr. Wayne E. and Grace E. (Hewitt) North; sister, Doris R. (North) Halbach, brother-in-law, Robert Halbach; nephew, John Halbach; friend, Joyce Lockford; and pets who adored him, including Chief, Martha, Dawson, Bruno, Bella and many others.

He leaves behind many beings who love him, including his husband, David Bingham; sister, Rhea C. North of Adrian, MI; children, Rachel A. Marvin of Hillsborough, NJ; Kathryn E. (Mack) Freesh of Anthem, AZ; and Tyler J. (Laura) North of Greenville, SC; Stepchildren, Lydia (Jake) McKinley, and Zachariah (Mariel) Bingham; grandchildren, Tres Marvin, Kate Marvin, Kolby Freesh, Payton Freesh, Jack North, Hadley North, and Henry North; step grandchildren, Adelyn McKinley, Morgan McKinley, and Evelyn Bingham; nephews, Erik Halbach and Brandt Halbach; friends, too numerous to name; and Crusher, his devoted and overly friendly Rottweiler, and Jake, his parrot who hates everyone except him.

There will be a celebration of life at Trinity Episcopal Church, downtown Toledo, on January 7th, 2023, beginning at 10:00 am. Those wishing to honor Dr. North's memory are invited to do so by contributing to the Holiday with Heart Fund, a 501(c)(3) in the care of the Greater Toledo Community Foundation, or to Trinity Episcopal Church for the care and maintenance of the Gardner Chimes.