Elsie Mae Wade Pettigrew, 92, of Longview, TX, went home to be with the Lord on Friday, February 12, 2021. She was born to Buford Gray and Evelyn V. Reagan, in Longview, TX, October 4, 1928. She grew up on a farm in Rusk County. Farm life was tough especially during the depression years. She graduated from Tatum High School and shortly thereafter started working for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. She married Buck J. Wade and continued her career at the phone company until she retired after over 40 years of service with multiple service awards. They lived in Longview where they started a family and became active in the First United Methodist Church in Longview. Elsie loved to sew and was an excellent seamstress. She also enjoyed beading jewelry, and water color painting.

She thought everything of her children, working nights, weekends, and holidays just to help ends meet. Even though there was not much money, her children were lack of nothing.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Buck; brother, Thomas; and sister, Eloise. She is survived by her brother, R.A. Gray; son, William Wade and his wife, Patricia; along with many aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces, most notably, Keitha Ann Calvert, whom she felt more as a daughter than a niece, along with her husband Richard.

Memorials may be made to Longview United Methodist Church or your favorite charity.