Verna Wade

Verna Lou Wade, 94 of Mt. Airy, MD was welcomed to her Heavenly home on Monday, May 22, 2023. She was the beloved wife for 70 years of the late Jesse James Wade, who passed on July 17, 2022.

Born in 1928, the youngest of “the 4 Prager girls” in New Kensington, PA, the family moved to Washington, DC when she was a young girl.

Lou passionately loved her mother and sisters and idolized her father, who immigrated to the US from Germany with his family. In 1941, she graduated from McKinley Tech in DC, and secured a job in the offices of Woodward and Lothrop, then later joined the workforce as a keypunch operator with United Mine Workers. Little did she know the next time she changed employers, it would impact her life forever. GEICO is where she met Jesse James Wade. They married in 1952 at Sherwood Presbyterian Church, and had five children over the next decade, raising them in Rockville, MD. They were members of Millian Memorial Methodist Church, and more recently Montgomery United Methodist.

She was a great mother and wife, and was always there for her family. After all their children were in school she worked in the cafeteria at Strathmore Elementary, and then Parkland Jr. High, and Martin Luther King Jr. High. She enjoyed arts and crafts with her co-workers, playing tennis, bowling, ice skating, and caring for her family. She was an excellent cook, homemaker, and nurturer. No one could comfort the sick like Lou could. She loved to laugh, and could be quite the jokester (which she inherited from her father). However, it was music that truly moved her and touched her soul. She always had a radio on in the house.

Lou is survived by her children and their spouses, Jessica and Gib Warnick of Frederick; Judy and Wayne Harris of Monrovia, Dean, and Christine Wade of New Market; Bonnie and Dean Mattox of Madison Heights, VA; and Karen Testerman of Saltville, VA; and 11 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren.

All who knew her will recall her infectious laugh and cherish the memories she left with us, as she’s moved to a place of beauty, peace, and love with our Heavenly Father.

We are grateful for Heartfields in Frederick, who gave such loving care to Lou the past 3 years.

A Celebration of Lou's Life will be held at 1:00 PM on Saturday, August 5, 2023 at Stauffer Funeral Home in Frederick, MD.