Robert Wade

Robert Allen Wade, Jr., 81 of Broken Bow, passed away February 2, 2021 at his home.  He was born December 26, 1939 at Durant, Oklahoma, the son of Robert A. Wade, Sr and Inez Tarr Wade.  He was a member of the Broken Bow Masonic Lodge, the United States National Guard, and affiliated with the First United Methodist Church, where his father was a Founding Member.

 At an early age, Robert liked to tinker with engines and tools. While working towards his Bachelor’s degree at Southeast State College, the college asked him to teacher their first mechanic’s classes, and as an adult, he had mastered his mechanic’s skills so well, he received job offers from likes of such companies as Caterpillar, Ford, the City of Lake Tahoe, and one from the well-known, Caroll Shelby, to help design the Shelby Mustang. However, Robert decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, and became an educator. His first teaching position was with Stigler Public Schools where he was the Auto Mechanics instructor and VICA sponsor beginning in 1969. After teaching for several years, he left to work as a field mechanic in Oklahoma and Texarkana, Arkansas. However, he later returned to teaching in McCurtain County, at the Kiamichi Area Vo-Tech as the Auto Mechanics instructor, where he eventually retired from in 1998. 

While Robert was an avid hunter, and loved to hunt in the hills and mountains of McCurtain County, his first love was fishing. As a young man, Robert would take visitors out on Broken Bow lake to fish on guided fishing trips. Later, he would become a semi-professional fisherman fishing tournaments on the many beautiful lakes of Eastern Oklahoma. In his older years, when he became a grandpa, his best fishing buddies became his grandkids. 

Robert is survived by his daughter, AElena Wade- Collinson of Broken Bow; sons, Shan Wade and wife Xuyan Ma of Little Rock, Arkansas and Mike Wade and wife, Cindy of Fordyce, Arkansas; brother, Paul Wade and wife Jerri of Bandera, Texas; sisters, Sue Dean and husband, Jerry of Broken Bow, Sharon Westbrook and husband, John of Hochatown, and Karen Coates of Cypress, Texas; eight grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren; numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and a host of friends. 

He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Pamela Wade; brother and sister-in-law, John and Nelda Wade; and brother-in-law, Steven Coates.

A celebration of life memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Monday, February 8, 2021 at the First United Methodist Church in Broken Bow, Oklahoma with John David Wade, Jr officiating. 

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