Wayne Holmes Caplinger, Jr. was born on the first of October, 1956 in Morgantown, West Virginia, to Wayne and Julia Caplinger.

The family of three followed the flow of Wayne’s father’s career as an engineer. They moved from West Virginia to Pleasantville, New York, and then spent a year in Illinois before returning to New York. They then spent a year in Columbus, Ohio, before moving on to Richland, Washington. Wayne finished high school in Richland in 1974, as a National Merit Scholar, and salutatorian of his class. While in high school, Wayne was the yearbook editor and a youth representative to the City Council of Richland.

Wayne was very active with the Boy Scouts, completing all the activities and requirements for achieving their highest honor of Eagle Scout. Boy Scouts was an activity he shared with his father, who was one of his troop leaders. In 1971, he and his father went to the World Scouting Jamboree in Japan, where he was selected to climb Mt. Fuji.

After high school, Wayne attended Reed College, in Portland, Oregon. He spoke fondly of his years at Reed, from which he graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1978. Wayne completed a PhD in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Following graduation, he moved to Palo Alto, where he began a career that combined two things he loved: technology and travel. Wayne was on the leading edge of the technology we use today. In telecommunications, he helped to develop the first “look ahead” data technology that created the basis for all the apps that are currently in use. Wayne’s career took him many places – either to live, or just for business trips. He often talked about having lived and worked in 15 countries on five continents. Among these were Finland, France, Italy, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, and Japan.

Starting in high school, and continuing throughout his life, Wayne was an accomplished athlete. He studied judo. He was an accomplished skier, especially in cross country. He skied across northern Norway, and placed third in the British International Cross Country competition. He became a ski instructor and was involved with ski rescue. While in Scotland, he was introduced to the “thinking sport” of Orienteering, and developed a passion that would continue throughout his life. He was a member of the Bay Area Orienteering Club (BAOC) from its early days. He also loved many water activities, such as scuba, cave diving, and sailing – and became a sailing instructor.

Wayne married Robin Prothro in 1992. Robin traveled with Wayne when his work took him to France, Italy, Finland, England, Australia, and Switzerland. Jamie was born in 1992, and Bronwyn was born in 1995. Jamie and Bronwyn were the two greatest joys of Wayne’s life.

Wayne also loved to dance. He and Robin learned English Country Dance and Contra Dance. He combined this love of dancing with a flair for theater.

Wayne and his subsequent partner, Angela, became active in the Renaissance Faire and Great Dickens Christmas Fair later in Wayne’s life. They were guild members with the Merry Pryanksters dance troupe, the Danse Macabre, the New Queen’s Ha’Penny Consort, the St. Matthews Guild, and the Fezziwigs guild.

Wayne loved music, and expressed this love both in appreciating music of many forms, and also in learning to play. He taught himself to play several instruments, including the recorder, transverse flute, shakuhachi, and didgeridoo, hand drums, and several others. He had a deep passion for opera.

He enjoyed sharing his knowledge and skill with others – especially with young people. While his children were at the East Bay Waldorf School, he taught juggling and unicycle for the fifth graders. More recently, he founded the Berkeley High School Orienteering Club, leading them to three consecutive State and Western Regional High School Championships, and taking them to the National Interscholastic Championships in Pacheco (2011) and Seattle (2012). This summer, he had accepted the role of Juniors Director for BAOC.

Wayne passed on Wednesday, August 7, 2013.

He will be missed.