Sylvia McDade

Sylvia Ann McDade was born to Lawrence and LueRee McGee in Amarillo, TX on December 23, 1946. She went home to be with her Lord Jesus on May 1, 2023. Sylvia spent most of her first 9 years in Hereford, TX before her family moved to Amarillo. Sylvia grew up in a Christian home and accepted Christ and was baptized on June 15, 1958. She attended Paramount Baptist Church for the last 20 years of her life. Sylvia exemplified the Proverbs 31 woman.

She attended Wolflin Elementary, Austin Junior High, and Amarillo High School where she participated in Bel Canto and All State choir and was elected as Choir Queen in 1963 and Miss Sandieland in 1964. Sylvia went on to study at Abilene Christian University and WT where she met her future husband in a Freshman English class she didn’t really need to take for the second time.

Sylvia married Gary D. McDade of Wildorado, TX on January 20,1968. She was very involved in various church projects throughout her life, community choirs, a lecturer for Weight Watchers, and was a member of the McDowell Music Club, part of the Federated Women's Club. Sylvia and Gary were blessed with two daughters and, wishing to stay home to raise her children, Sylvia began a faith-based, in-home daycare business which she ran for 38 years. She helped raise and teach more than 100 children, who loved her very much.

Sylvia had an exceptional, God-given singing voice and she used that beautiful gift to bless many through church pageants, choir ensembles, weddings, and funerals. She also had a flair for being artistic and creative. She loved to paint and come up with fun crafts for her daughters and daycare children to do. If she sat down to talk to a friend on the phone for longer than a few minutes, you’d find a page full of her fancy doodle art when she was done.

Sylvia had a caring, servants heart. She visited elderly shut-ins, prepared meals for the sick, taught Sunday School and VBS, helped lead Camp Fire troops, and was an integral part of establishing a Family Outreach Center at Washington Avenue Christian Church.

Sylvia was devoted to her husband Gary, who was her best friend for 55 years, and her children, Amy and Carrie. Together, Gary & Sylvia built a strong foundation of faith for their family. She was an attentive and loving mother, who worked selflessly & tirelessly to create countless magical childhood moments for her girls. She achieved every mother’s dream of becoming friends with her daughters in their adulthood. Her daughters have nothing but sweet and tender memories of their mother. Sylvia and Gary provided daycare for their own granddaughter, Sydney, for the first three years of her life while her mom and dad were at work. These are years both they and Sydney will cherish forever.

Sylvia is preceded in death by her parents, Lawrence & LueRee McGee of Amarillo, and her sister Barbara Vincent of Amarillo.

She is survived by her husband, Gary McDade; daughter Amy McDade; daughter Carrie Hubbard and husband Craig Hubbard and their daughters Emily and Sydney Dee Hubbard, all of Amarillo; sister Karen Herring of Burnet, TX; brother Randall McGee and his wife Kaye of Lubbock.

She was an aunt to four nieces and five nephews. She was daughter-in-law to Dee and Doris McDade of Wildorado, whom she loved and cared for before their passing, and sister-in-law to Karen & Dewayne Sexton of Lubbock. The family is grateful for the care and support provided by the nurses, aides, and other workers at BSA Hospice of the Southwest. The comfort and help they bring is truly a ministry.

The family will receive friends from 5:00 pm - 7 pm at Griggs-Schooler-Gordon Funeral Directors at 5400 Bell St. Burial will be at 10 am Thursday, May 4, 2023 at Wildorado Cemetery. A service honoring Sylvia’s life will be held at Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo on Thursday May 4, 2023 at 2:00 pm.

The family would be grateful for donations in Sylvia’s honor to be made to BSA Hospice of the Southwest through Olivia’s Angels 1600 Wallace Blvd. Amarillo, TX 79106, (806) 313-6936.

Donation link: (https://hchfamarillo.networkforgood.com/projects/192325-support-hchf)

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.griggsschoolergordon.com for the McDade family.