Wayne Douglas Diener, age 71, of North Platte, NE, died Thursday, December 8, 2016, at Great Plains Health.

Wayne was born October 13, 1945, to Harry Lynn and Elsie Adeline Smith Diener in North Platte and grew up in Albion and Ord, NE. He graduated from Albion High School in 1963 and had earned his Eagle Scout Award. Wayne then attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln before proudly serving in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1971. He eventually received his Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering from Eastern Washington University at Spokane, WA.

Wayne’s work had an impact on all lives. While working for Notifier Corp. in Lincoln, he designed the first microprocessor based fire/burglar alarm system around 1978 and worked on one of Notifier’s security systems installed in the World Trade Centers. Wayne later worked for Otis Elevator Company and designed the major controller for their next generation of elevators. From there he went to work for Keytronic in 1991 and designed upgrades to IBM computer keyboards. By 1999 Wayne was employed by Qualcom and given the task of developing the system that allowed manufacturers to design cell phones, called 2G at that time then 3G. So every time you use a cell phone, there’s a little part of Wayne in it.

Wayne retired in 2000 then returned to North Platte in 2011 due to health concerns and to be closer to his family.

He is survived by his sister, Nancy (Louis) Stoeger, of Maywood, NE; brother, Gale (Catherine) Diener, of Spokane, WA; as well as several nieces, nephews and other family.

Wayne was preceded in death by his parents, Harry Diener and Elsie Watkins, and stepfather, Clarence Watkins; sister and brother-in-law, Virginia and Doug Durbin; and niece, Shaylynn Hagan.

Cremation was chosen. Graveside Memorial Service with Military Honors will be 10 a.m. Monday, January 2, 2017, in Fort McPherson National Cemetery, south of Maxwell. The memorial book may be signed at odeanchapel.com or at the graveside. Odean Colonial Chapel at C & Sycamore is in charge of arrangements.