Hundreds of friends, neighbours and colleagues filled the Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre Saturday afternoon to honour and say farewell to Wayne Cardiff, a much-loved and admired man about NOTL.

The main auditorium overflowed and a line stretched through the lobby and outside into the parking lot as well over 1,000 people paused to remember the 81-year-old.

Cardiff died on March 5 after a short, private battle with prostate cancer. He was diagnosed in October but opted only to share the news of his illness with his immediately family.

“Shocked” was a common refrain among visitors and those who posted condolences after his death.

His widow Judy Cardiff steadfastly stood and greeted all those who came in person to pay their respects. The couple’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren also were among those on hand to bid farewell.

Judy and her husband have been fixtures in town, married for 58 years, living in the same house on Mary Street for decades. They could often be seen out walking together or enjoying a round of golf.

The two met on Victoria Day weekend in 1967 at the old Anchorage bar on NOTL’s waterfront. Judy was 24, a widow from Niagara Falls with two young children.

After losing her husband, her family encouraged her to get out and enjoy life. That’s when she met Wayne.

A few years younger, he was smitten and within three months they were married. In smalltown NOTL in the 1960s, “it was a scandal,” joked Judy.

An accomplished golfer, Wayne was the pro at the NOTL Golf Club from 1965-68. In fact, his family noted, he became the youngest club pro in North America when he was hired at the age of 19.

He grew up in town, attending Parliament Oak and Niagara District Secondary School and while he didn’t quite finish high school before embarking on his golf career, it didn’t deter him from becoming a successful entrepreneur.

When he left the golf club, he sold cars at what was then Garden City Rambler in St. Catharines and within a few years he owned the dealership.

In his 25 years running Garden City Jeep, it was a family operation as everyone, including their children Mark, Kym and Kari, worked there.

Cardiff was proud of NOTL and “always bought locally,” including furniture and appliances, keen to support local entrepreneurs, Judy said.

“Everybody loved him and liked him and knew him,” she said, which was reflected in the huge turnout to celebrate his life.

“Wayne passed away at noon on Thursday, and at the (Legion) fish fry at 5 o’clock, the town already knew,” she said. “Word travelled fast.”

The Dietsch brothers, Matt and Paul, opened the Sandtrap pub in 2014 and credit the Cardiffs for helping instil the confidence to go out on their own.

“Wayne’s business sense was a calming voice that made our decision to open a town watering hole where locals could gather a good one,” Matt said.

“I will miss hearing him say on the really busy nights, ‘Hey Matt, good place to open a bar, eh?’ ”

Back in Wayne’s day as the pro, the NOTL club had a booming junior program. Among the many kids he taught was young Mark Derbyshire, who would go on to be the men’s club champion for 30 straight years, among numerous other golfing honours.

“The only golf lessons I ever had were from Wayne,” Derbyshire told The Lake Report. “He taught me all the fundamentals and got me on my way.”

And when Derbyshire’s aging parents Vera and Al were in hospital or in care, the Cardiffs both visited regularly.

Wayne also mentored his wife on the links and she became a strong competitor in her own right.

While he eagled every hole on the NOTL course except #9, a long par 3, he only notched a single hole-in-one, on #4.

His protégé Judy outdid him — she’s had four aces.

He didn’t imbibe much, but loved to raise a glass with friends and neighbours — and after the Sandtrap opened, the Cardiffs arrived one day just before Christmas to find two stools at the bar festooned with giant bows and plaques celebrating them.

“We knew from day one that Wayne and Judy would be great regulars at the pub and with our family ties we wanted to make sure that they always had a place to sit,” Matt Dietsch said.

“So, we permanently reserved the two seats closest to our service bar where they could say hi to all the patrons picking up takeout as well as the guests who were dining in.”

The Cardiffs’ daughter Kym McNeil remembers her dad as “extremely accomplished but at the end of the day, the most humble man in the world.”

“Family and community and friends and socializing” were the essence of the man, she said.

Perhaps his family summed up Wayne’s life best in his obituary: “He leaves behind not only a family who loved him deeply, but countless friends, stories and memories, the kind created through laughter, good conversation and the simple joy of being together.”