WARREN — Henry "Ozzie" Waisanen died July 24 in his Warren home with his daughter, Julie, by his side. Born to Laine Johanna and John Henry Waisanen, Ozzie was predeceased by two half-sisters, Lillian and Vivian.

A 1951 graduate of Warren High School, Ozzie began his adult life driving a dump truck for Chester Wallace. It was while driving this truck he saw Flora Wiley getting the mail and asked her for a date. That led to marriage and two children, Wendy Laina and John Henry II.

Later, Ozzie took a position as a foreman at Bonner Varter, a form printing company in Rockland. He worked there for several years. He also had his CDL and drove the occasional long haul. Ozzie was an accomplished carpenter and mechanic. He could fix or build just about anything. Wendy recalls bringing home a couple of motorcycles in baskets that he fixed, painted and reassembled. They ran perfectly and were enjoyed by the family for years.

Ozzie's final career move was as a mechanic at Gammon's Garage for Irving Gammon, where he worked until he retired in 2002.
Flora, his first wife, died in early 1978. In 1979, after having received a very nice letter of condolence from a former high school sweetheart, the two reconnected. He married Phyllis Luce and the Waisanen family got three new sisters, Anilda, Lori and Julie. Ozzie and Phyllis had 29 blissful years together until her death in 2008.

Friends and family will remember Ozzie as a quiet man with a dry sense of humor and a soft chuckle when he found something amusing. The moments we will remember most are when he broke character – modeling his 8-year-old son's Indian headdress to amuse his wife after the graveyard shift; singing and yodeling one evening at a family get together; and reciting a bawdy poem, caught on tape.

Ozzie will be missed by all his family, both birth and marriage.

Ozzie is survived by his children, Wendy Trommer and her husband, Jack, John Waisanen and his wife, Deidre, Anilda Riggs, Lori Luce, and Julie Huber and her husband, Joe; his grandchildren, John Waisanen III, Jarod Waisanen, Donnie Riggs and his wife, Christy, Jennifer Gensler and her husband, Neil, Ramona Logan and her husband, Justin, Savannah Bizier and her husband, Marcus, Courtney Pitcher, and Chelsea O'Donnell; plus several great-grandchildren, extended family, and friends.

Friends and relatives are invited to visit on Thursday, July 28, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock St. in Rockland, where a funeral service will be held Friday, July 29 at 2 p.m. The Rev. Terrence Willis will officiate. Interment will follow in Fairview Cemetery on Patterson Mill Road in Warren.