Wayne Rodgers

Biography of Wayne Rodgers

Born in southwestern Louisiana, Wayne grew up in a large extended family whose ancestors settled there and across the Sabine River in "Tejas" during the time of the Empresarios. He listened to the tales his grandfather and great uncles told of their time as cowboys at ranches along the Brazos and Trinity Rivers and he dreamed of reliving "the old days". He fished the streams and hunted the pine woods in "The Big Thicket" area of east Texas as a lad, honing his skills as an outdoorsman.

With an inherent spirit of adventure, he left home as a young man and worked as a lumberjack, on ranches, and for a short time rode saddle broncs on the rodeo circuit before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1965. He saw combat in infantry and reconnaissance units in Viet Nam. Wayne married his high school sweetheart upon his return, eventually fathering 3 sons. He served in Special Landing Forces in the Far East and Europe; at shore stations in North Africa and Japan, in the Fleet Marine Force Atlantic and Pacific, was a Marine Drill Instructor at Parris Island, South Carolina, and along the way, earned two degrees.

Since retiring from the Marines, he has been a law enforcement officer and prison warden; a security consultant in the U.S. and in Europe; taught college, and while on sabbatical in Mexico rode with the Vaqueros. His love of writing and a trove of stories gained from his adventurous life and travels led Wayne to write his first novel, The Trail Home.

Now the father of three and grandfather of four, Wayne lives a quieter life in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina with his wife of forty-five years, Elizabeth, where he remains active in security analyses and operations and continues to work on his numerous writing projects.