William (Bill) Joe Wade

William (Bill) Joe Wade

Passed away at Providence Hospital on Feb. 22, 2019, at the age of 85.

He was born in Carlisle, Iowa to Joseph William and Thelma Draper Wade on Sept. 7, 1933.

After the death of his father in 1936, his mother married John (Jack) L. Cope. Bill and his older sister, Leeann, moved with their mother and stepfather to Palmer, Alaska in 1937 via the Alaska Steamship Company.

Their parents operated the first barber and beauty shop in the newly established Matanuska Colony. In 1939, Bill’s family purchased a forty-acre colony farm and began the hard work of running a farm. Bill was his stepfather’s right hand man when it came to working the farm. He remembered vividly the early mornings and long days required for getting the chores done, while still attending school.

He attended the United Protestant Church and was a member of the Boy Scouts of America and a member of the Order of the Arrow. He was also a member of the Moose Lodge.

He attended the Palmer territorial school system for 12 years, graduating from Palmer High School in 1951. He attended college in Kansas for one year. He joined the US Army and was stationed at Ft. Richardson for two years.

After leaving the Army, he worked on the construction of the Eklutna Tunnel project and at the Jonesville Coal mine.

In 1955, he married Jean Marie Ambeau Saulsbury and the couple moved to Seattle where Bill worked for Boeing. Though the marriage ended, it blessed him with the births of his daughter and two sons.

Bill was always proud of his Alaska heritage and having been raised in Palmer. He was an accomplished pilot and a certified A & E mechanic. At the time of his retirement in 1993 he was the Vice President of Data Systems at Enstar Natural Gas Company where he had worked for 21 years.

Bill was preceded in death by his father, Joseph William Wade, his mother, Thelma Draper Wade Cope and his stepfather, John (Jack) L. Cope.

He is survived by his daughter Cynthia Ann (Wade) Bailey and husband Donald; his sons, William Joe Wade II and wife Carolyn, and Steaven Michael Wade; his sisters, Thelma Leeann Wade Dodds, Jill Cope Winsor, and Linda Cope Patterson. At the time of his passing he had 13 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. He also leaves behind many nieces and nephews residing in the Palmer/Anchorage area.