01/31/2025
Honoring our Resident of the Month, Wayne!
Resident of the Month: Wayne S.
Mr. Wayne Scott was born in Augusta, Georgia, to parents Albert and Evelyn. He was one of 14 children, a family of 9 boys and 5 girls. When Wayne was 9, his family moved to Elmwood in southwest Philadelphia for better job opportunities. His father found work at the U.S. Mint, and Wayne still recalls his surprise at learning that they burned the old money that was taken out of circulation.
When Wayne was 14, his mother died and he left school to help take care of his family. Wayne shared that it was a crowded but loving home, with his father taking in an additional three children from the neighborhood that had nowhere to go after losing their parents.
There were four kids to a bedroom and only two bathrooms, but they made it work. Wayne found work cooking in restaurants; a job that he loved. He especially loved working at Horn & Hardart on Chestnut Street and Jerry’s Corner on Passyunk Avenue.
Wayne met his wife, Vivian, in the neighborhood and something “just clicked” for the both of them; they married a year later. He adopted Vivian’s two children, and they had one child together before Vivian passed twenty years later from breast cancer.
Wayne’s heartfelt advice to the young? “Stay in school! And don’t be afraid to go to the doctor if something seems wrong!”
