Jim (Sibley James) Wade, who touched many lives as a committed Christian, died February 10, 2019 at the age of 89. He was born August 10, 1929 in Saltville, Virginia and enjoyed growing up in the small mountain town of Mullens, West Virginia. Jim was active in band, choirs and scouting (earning the rank of Eagle), graduating from Mullens High School in 1947. He enlisted in the US Army and served at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina and Ft. Bliss, Texas.
In September of 1949, with a scholarship from KTSM Radio 1380, he enrolled in Texas Western College (now UTEP) in El Paso and graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.
In 1950 he met Mary Lou Hindman during a dinner at Trinity Methodist Church and they were married at her home church in Kansas City on June 1, 1952. They raised a lively family including daughter Meredith McAlmon (partner Brad Bischoff) and her sons Robert and John of Austin, Texas; daughter Dana Ballard and husband Ken of Lynchburg, Virginia and their children Wes of Manassas, Virginia, James (partner Angela Novy) of New York City and Caroline (fiancé Luke Anderson) of Laramie, Wyoming; and son Mark Wade and wife Kathy and their sons Kevin (and wife Rebecca), Brian and Stephen of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He worked from 1950 to 1962 as a Music Programmer for KTSM Radio and Commercial Producer for KTSM TV, Channel Nine. In March of ’62 he became Director of Christian Education for Trinity Methodist Church (now Trinity-First), attending SMU in Dallas for part of the next four summers for graduate-level study in that field. He was consecrated a Methodist Diaconal Minister (an order for service) in 1967. In 1983, Trinity-First installed a complete television production center and Jim became the Producer for the live telecasting of their 11:00 AM Sunday worship services which continued on Channel 13, Cable 8 until September 2002.
Like Faith, Family and Christian Service, music was another thread strung through the fabric of Jim’s life which began when he sang the national anthem at his elementary school graduation. That thread wound through singing in several choirs at Mullens Methodist Church, Fayetteville, NC Methodist Church and Trinity-First United Methodist Church, in which he was a tenor soloist from 1949 through 1982. He sang tenor in the quartet of Temple Mt. Sinai in El Paso for 33 years and was soloist for a number of sacred choral works in El Paso churches and community productions. He was also an active member of the McDowell Club (an adjunct musical organization of the Women’s Club of El Paso).
Travel was yet another thread in the cloth of Jim’s life which began with his marriage to Mary Lou and their wedding trip to Colorado Springs and down through New Mexico to settle in El Paso. They traveled with their children through many parts of the U.S. as they all five grew up together! In 1982 Jim and Mary Lou began escorting groups of Trinity-First Church and Jolly Elders members on trips to Europe and Canada and many places of interest in Texas and across the U.S.
Jim was predeceased by Mary Lou, who died in July of 2012, brothers Dean and Gordon and sister Leona Moore, and sister-in-laws Dorothy White and Nancy Maddox.
The family would like to thank friends at Trinity-First United Methodist Church, the staff of Good Samaritan White Acres Assisted Living, and the staff of Envision Hospice for their care and support over the years.
Please join family and friends at a Celebration of Life Service at Trinity-First United Methodist Church on Saturday June 15, 2019 at 10:00 am with a lunch to follow in Fellowship Hall. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent in memory of Jim Wade to the Trinity-First United Methodist Church Endowment Fund (801 N Mesa, El Paso, TX 79902; 915-533-2674).
