Wayland, 87, of Carolina House of Asheboro, in North Carolina grew up helping his father, a painter, with exterior painting projects on the weekends. During this time, Wayland remembers seeing the crowds of fans going to the Duke football games and hearing them roaring in the stands. Wayland used to stand outside and observe the fans that drove by his home—his family lived on the main highway leading to Duke. Wayland has always dreamed about one day being able to go to a Duke football game to see what all the excitement was about.
Wayland served in the Navy on a destroyer towards the end of WWII. Wayland has always liked to help others; he once volunteered to help a man he had just recently met tour across the country in a motor home. Wayland drove this individual and his wife all over the United States.
Wayland has also always had a passion for woodworking and enjoyed building bird houses for all the birds that lived out in his garden. Wish of a Lifetime and Brookdale sent Wayland, his granddaughter, Collins, and a Brookdale staff member to attend the Duke vs. North Carolina football game at Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium on November 20, 2014 to finally fulfill the dream he has had since childhood. With access to the field prior to the game and top-notch care from the event staff, Wayland was able to experience his life-long dream to the fullest!
