Mary Ellen Wade

Death came to her gently, while she was asleep at her home in Sea-Tac, Washington, sheltered by its Japanese maple and embraced by a lush, perfect Japanese garden with pond, bridge and pine trees.

If she had any parting thoughts, they were of joy to be reunited with her husband of 30 years, Thomas L. Wade, who died on October 10, 2006. The house in Sea-Tac was their first as a married couple, and the photographs, objects and most of all, the garden, which they designed together, reflected the deep love they had for each other and, in Mary Ellen’s case, an artistic and joyful temperament.

In the living room, a Seahawks pennant hung on the wall, together with an oil painting of Balinese dancers in tropical gold and red hues. The Hobbit-sized house contained the narrative of their lives together.

Mary Ellen was a big personality who was easy to love and was loved back by everyone who met her. Her laugh was infectious, her generosity unquestioned, and her care and compassion for those lucky enough to come into her orbit was unstinting. She faced challenges early in life that left her scarred but invincible, and her courage facing declining health was so great that even those closest to her were shocked by her death, lulled into complacency.

If asked, she would have beamed and said she was on her way to join Tom, Debbie, her parents and a cousin or two, and left with a smile.

If Tom was the love of her life, Mary Ellen had many passions, starting with a long line of Pomeranians and a few cats in between.

Her passion for all things Disney was part of her decorative instincts as well a small business she set up in retirement, trading Disney lapel pins on eBay. Some hand-thrown pots are evidence of an early career as a potter on Seattle’s Vashon Island.

Besides Tom, she was devoted to her church and a small circle of friends and neighbors. She met Tom while a member of a Pentecostal and charismatic church in Burien, Washington, and her faith never lapsed. The church served as an outlet for her talents as a musician, songwriter and artist.

She composed and sang in multiple recordings that were distributed by the Community Chapel and Bible Training Center in the 1980s, until its closure in 1988. She played the piano by ear and sang soprano, as well as writing music and lyrics. According to Charlotte Howes, a former church member, these are the words to one of her songs:

Thankfulness fills my heart

Wells up from deep within.

Lord, I owe you everything

My thanks will never end

The lyrics accurately reflect Mary Ellen’s optimism, ever positive outlook, faith and humility. Our own thanks will never end for the privilege of having known her.

Mary Ellen worked most of her life until retirement, first as a waitress at Pancake House and then from 1992 to 2012 as an information technology analyst at Kaiser Permanente Washington.

She traveled widely until the age of 18, when she first arrived in Seattle as a second-year student at Seattle Pacific College, after her freshman year at Albion College in Albion, Michigan. She never left Seattle, marrying Tom Wade on December 21, 1976, before moving into the house on 14th Avenue South.

Mary Ellen’s birthplace was Montgomery, Alabama, where her father, Charles Watson Terry, was director of the State Personnel Service. Mary Ellen’s mother, Sarah Mallory (Davis) Terry, later Anderson, was a graduate of Converse College, fluent in Spanish and a talented athlete.

In 1954, Mary Ellen’s father was recruited to head the Oregon State Personnel Service, when she was seven. In 1959, he was invited to join the U.S. State Department. Their first assignment was to Jakarta, Indonesia. Mary Ellen was 11 years old and enrolled in International School in Kabayan Baru, Jakarta, near where they lived.

Since the International School only went through the eighth grade, in ninth grade Mary Ellen was sent to a bilingual boarding school in Gstaad, Switzerland, where she became fluent in French.

In 1961, the Terrys were assigned to a new posting in Taipei, Taiwan, where Mary Ellen enrolled in the Taipei International School for 10th and 11th grade, and then to Manila, the Philippines, in

1963, where she studied at the American School of Makati (now the International School of Makati), founded in 1920.

She graduated from high school in 1964 and left for Albion College the same year, so that by the time she arrived as a sophomore in Seattle she had lived in Montgomery, Alabama; Salem, Oregon; Jakarta, Indonesia; Gstaad, Switzerland; Taipei, Taiwan; Manila, the Philippines, and Albion, Michigan. She spoke French well, along with some Chinese and Bahasa Indonesia.

This unusual itinerary led Mary Ellen to yearn for stability, and after she found the perfect city and the perfect man, she stayed for the duration.

On March 7, 1966, at the age of 18, Mary Ellen gave birth to Ed Leroy Dobeas, who was given up for adoption. In 1992, Ed searched adoption records, found and was reunited with Mary Ellen, his birth mother. Until the death of his adoptive mother, Iola Mae Larsen, he was a loving son to both of his mothers. A veteran of the first Gulf War in 1991, and a talented musician like his mother, Ed was devoted to Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen’s last international trip was in 2007 to Ed’s wedding in Terrassa, Spain to Anna Gallardo Triadó, a proud Catalonian.

Tom Wade’s son and daughter, Thomas P. Wade and Deborah Renee Wade, remained close to Mary Ellen after Tom Senior’s death. Debbie’s untimely passing on March 17, 2024 in a car accident was a tragedy for the entire extended family, but especially to Mary Ellen, who spent many happy hours with Debbie and her Labradors at her home overlooking the whales, seals and sailboats of Puget Sound in Everett, Washington.

Tom Wade and his wife Ashley Wade reside in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and have been frequent visitors to Seattle, where the late Tom Wade Senior’s first wife, Carol Cattron Wade resides. They have given profound support and affection to Mary Ellen as she became less mobile over the past two years, and Tom raced to her aid when she became bedridden for the first time in March 2026. Carol and Mary Ellen also became friendly over the years.

In addition to Ed, Anna, Tom and Ashley, Mary Ellen is survived by three siblings – Edith Buchanan Terry of Hong Kong; Charles Watson Terry, Jr. of Montgomery, Alabama, and his wife Patty Terry; and Hilliard Mallory Terry of Charleston, South Carolina, and his wife Janet Terry.

Chrissie Drake, Mary Ellen’s 83-year-old housemate, was with her at the last, taking quick action when she found her unresponsive.

Mary Ellen asked to be cremated and for her ashes to be scattered from a Seattle ferry in Puget Sound. A ceremony on the ferry is scheduled for May 11th on the Seattle to Bainbridge Island ferry ride at 11:25 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in memory of Mary Ellen Wade be

made to:

Kaiser Foundation Hospitals,

Institutional & Planned Giving

5820 Owens Drive, Building E, 4th Floor

Pleasanton, CA 94588

Phone: 1-855-6GIVING (644-8464)

Or

Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue

https://www.spdrdogs.org/donate