Douglas E Wade

Douglas Eugene Wade was born at Nashville’s Baptist Hospital on May 17th 1957 to Martha Wade (later Martha Johnson) and the late Howard Wade. He and his older brother, Charles Benjamin Wade grew up in a tri-plex home on West Eastland Ave in East Nashville. In 1964, the family moved to Goodlettsville, TN and Doug spent most of the rest of his life in the Goodlettsville/Greenbrier area. He attended schools in East Nashville, Hendersonville, and for a brief time during Jr. High, Atlanta, where his mother had taken a job. After a few years, he returned to Goodlettsville and he graduated from Hendersonville High School in 1976.

Doug was a rough and tumble kid who would rather be on his bicycle riding around the neighborhood than most anywhere else. He was a regular Evel Knievel on his bike, building ramps at the foot of the steep driveway and launching himself in to the air. Because of this, there were many bike wrecks that required trips to the local emergency room for stitches. Today, Doug would have been an amazing BMX rider wearing a helmet and safety pads to do his bicycle shenanigans but that didn’t exist in the 1960s. His love of his bicycle and riding translated into later life when he was old enough to get his first motorcycle. His love of riding his Harley carried through the rest of his life.

Doug’s father was a shade tree auto mechanic and Doug got his love of tinkering with old cars from the time he spent under the hood of various vehicles with his dad. This served him well later in life as he did car repairs for family and friends and he even worked professionally for a time as an auto mechanic. He loved older cars and trucks and always seemed to have some manner of project vehicle he was working on.

In 1978, he married Brenda Moran, with whom he had two children, Sandy Leeann and Cody Andrew, He went to work for his father in law who owned a machine shop where Doug learned the trade and spent the rest of his working career as a machinist. He worked for several companies over the next three decades before being forced to retire due to health issues. As unfortunately happens, his marriage didn’t work out and Doug became a single father to his two children, raising them in Greenbrier.

In 2004, Doug met Vickie Green at the Goodlettsville Hardee’s. The sparks flew and before long, they moved in together and in 2009, they flew to Las Vegas and got married. Vickie’s father loved Doug and happily gave his blessing to their marriage. With Vickie, Doug acquired two stepsons, James and Travis and a stepdaughter, the late Jamie Marie Green, who had passed before Doug and Vickie met. Doug and James were particularly close with them working on many home projects together building a deck, installing roofs and constructing a finished basement in his Greenbrier home. When Doug’s dementia began taking its toll, James moved into their home to assist in his caretaking.

Doug and Vickie were inseparable and loved spending every minute together. Doug and Vickie never referred to each other by their names. It was always ‘my love.’ When Vickie had back surgery in 2014, Doug took care of her, taking his lunch break from work to come home and check on her and taking her to every follow up doctor appointment. He was an excellent caretaker and she returned the favor by being his caretaker when he needed it years later. Doug was diagnosed with Early Onset Dementia four years later on March 14th 2018. Apparently 3/14 is a cursed date for those two.

Doug’s love of the outdoors and nature never left him and he and Vickie spent as much time as possible outside and traveling to natural sites. Particular favorites were Fall Creek Falls and The Great Smoky Mountains. He also loved the ocean and delighted in visiting his mother on St. Simons Island, GA. He loved gardening and had quite the green thumb and got Vickie, who claimed to have a brown thumb, into gardening as well. They kept a lovely garden until they downsized and sold their home and moved into a smaller place. Doug truly enjoyed getting on his Harley and was happiest riding through the mountains and valleys, with Vickie on the back of his bike. They also participated in numerous charitable motorcycle rides such as rides for missing children and Operation Home Front for the military at Fort Campbell in Clarksville, TN.

Doug loved his family and was blessed with many grandchildren. Sandy’s children are Harley, Zac, Adam, Jesse and Megan. Cody’s are Makayla, Savannah, Declan, Denver, and Saylor. James’ children are James III, Jaden Lee, and Aubrey June. Travis’ son, Dustin Lee Nathaniel. He also has three great grandchildren. Harley has two children, Madelyn and Chandler, and Travis has one, Maliyah.

In addition to his grand and great grandchildren, Douglas is survived by his mother, Martha Nell Johnson and his wife Vickie Lynn Wade. He is also survived by his brother, Charles Benjamin Wade, stepmother, Emma Louise Wade, stepsiblings, Rhonda Wade Lambert, Robert Charles Chisholm, Michael Benjamin Johnson, and Suzanne Marie Bonner, his children, Sandy Leeann Bush and Cody Andrew Wade and his stepsons, James L Green, Jr. and Travis Neal Green, his beloved puppy, Harley, along with many cousins, nieces and nephews, all of whom thought the world of Doug.