August 17 1936 May 16 2020
Richard’s Obituary A Life That Was a Blessing Filled with Blessings Richard Dexter “Dick” Wade was born August 17, 1936 in Waterbury, Connecticut. The youngest son of and a blessing to the late Elizabeth Farrar Wade and Vernon Eugene Wade. He grew up in La Vale, MD and attended Allegheny High School where he became a proficient saxophonist and clarinetist performing in big bands playing both the sax and clarinet. He had an ear for music – it was amazing to watch him listen to a song on the radio then play it perfectly. During high school, Dick, spent summers on his grandfather’s farm in New Hampshire. He spoke fondly of those days of milking cows and shoveling manure. If anyone could speak fondly of manure, it was Dick. He fostered his love of animal husbandry and agriculture by studying agriculture at West Virginia University whose basketball and football teams he followed later in his life. In the summer of 1958, while taking a summer course at Temple University in Philadelphia, he met Mildred “Millie” Cramer at a YMCA dance. It was love at first sight which started a romance that led to a marriage in 1960. Dick served his country in the Army during the Cuban Missile Crisis, where he was stationed at a missile base in New York. He was on 24-hour duty while Millie was pregnant with their first child, Rick, who was born a month after the height of the crisis. Two years later came Susan, then, after two more years came Sandy. Russ, Dick’s youngest, was born in 1972 – a Christmas blessing. Dick spent many late nights supporting his family by working for John Deere and Company in Timonium, MD and moved with them to Hunt Valley, MD. Despite the demands of his job, he still made time for his family — from serving on the Hillendale Elementary PTA, to helping with Boy Scout functions, to attending numerous band concerts and baseball and coaching girls’ softball games — Dick instilled in his children the rewards for volunteering and getting involved. As the older kids one by one left the nest, Dick, Millie and Russ moved from Hillendale in Baltimore County, MD to greener pastures in Dallastown, PA where Dick could foster his love of agriculture and play with his new toy; a John Deere riding mower. He enjoyed mowing and tending to an impeccable lawn. With the kids on their own, and in the midst of retirement, Dick dove into passions from younger days. He was an avid coin collector. He could tell you the differences between a 1943 D and S penny besides the obvious. Rekindling his love of music, Dick sang and played alto sax in the Equine Meadows Singers group in Red Lion, PA. Dick enjoyed time with friends at the Pacesetters group meetings in Dallastown, PA, accompanying Millie on many trips with this fine group. Dick was called to spend eternity with his mom and dad and Father in Heaven on Saturday, May 16, 2020 after several years battling the debilitating effects of dementia. He is survived by his wife Mildred C. Wade (nee Cramer) of Red Lion, PA, a son Rick and his wife Sue of Lutherville, MD, a daughter Susan Dumm and her husband Jeffrey of Woodbine, MD, a daughter Sandy Minelli and her husband Matthew of Haymarket, VA, a son Russell and his wife Jen of Mechanicsburg, PA, a brother Everett Wade, and grandchildren Meagan Wade, Elizabeth Dumm and Amanda Dumm, and Jessica and Leo Minelli. In lieu of flowers please consider making donations in Dick’s name to his church St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Dallastown, PA, 251 E. Main Street Dallastown, PA, 17313 www.osvonlinegiving.com/1769 or the Alzheimer Foundation at alzfdn.org/support-us/donate/ Read More
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Richard D Wade August 17 1936 May 16 2020.
Death notice for the town of: Dallastown, state: Pennsylvania