Renee will be remembered as a generous friend, a welcoming host, a loving wife, a supportive mother, and an adventurous spirit.
Renee was born on August 29, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, in the midst of WW II shortly before her father, Thomas Jefferson Wade joined the Seabees for the remainder of the war. She was the oldest of the five children of Thomas and Margaret Macko Wade. She and her mother spent the duration of the war with family in Georgia returning to New York City in 1945.
After graduating from The Mary Louis Academy in Queens, Renee left New York City for Winthrop University. She returned to the city over the summers where she lived in Greenwich Village and worked at whichever job seemed most exciting, including as a skating carhop. Renee was always drawn to teaching. She loved children and they loved her. She was a natural teacher and ultimately earned her master’s degree in education, despite teaching social studies with a puppet. After graduating, she briefly taught at Tarra Elementary in Georgia, but soon secured an overseas assignment with the intention of seeing the world. In 1966 at the age of 27, she moved to Toquepala, Peru. Only a few months into teaching in Peru, she met and fell in love with Lester “Toby” Anderson. She put off her next move, continuing to teach while they courted, and they were married on January 4, 1970. She would go on to tell people that she had planned to see the world, but that she never regretted staying in Peru and loved their many adventures together.
Their love together lasted 49 years during which they raised their four children while encouraging and celebrating Toby’s older sons, Gordon and Larry. After the birth of their first daughter, Samantha, Renee returned to the United States for three years while Toby completed his engineering degree. Renee taught elementary school at the nearby reservation and, after the birth of their son Wade, cared for two small children while Toby finished college.
The family returned to Peru and Renee took on the full-time job of maintaining their home, supporting Toby and raising their children, Maria “Maruja” Luisa Anderson, Samantha Lee Anderson (Fowler), Wade Thomas Anderson, and Laurel Amiee Anderson (Stein).
In 1988, the family reluctantly returned to the United States, amid political unrest in Peru. Renee and Toby moved to Round Mountain, Nevada where she again taught while he worked for Round Mountain Gold Corporation. They eventually returned to Georgia, where she taught in Clayton County, spending the final years of her career teaching special education.
Toby and Renee retired to her family’s hometown of McDonough, Georgia, where they lived together for 22 years until his death in 2019. She missed him terribly during their time apart.
Renee was happiest around holidays, and incomparable at making them enchanting -- egg dying, games and basket-hiding at Easter, potatoes at Halloween, and PJ’s for everyone at Christmas. She was charitable and generous to those in need, and genuinely interested in whoever she was with. She was a champion of lost causes, even winning a few, and she was always happy to involve you in her solution!
She loved to dance, had a wicked sense of humor, and a unique outlook on life. She loved the Lord, her husband, and her children.
She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, brother Thomas Jefferson Wade, sister Andrea Lee Wade, step-son Gordon Ray Anderson, grandchild Paul Hillary Anderson and nieces Margaret Catherine Hodges and Isabella Emily Wade. She is survived by her children and their spouses: Larry Wayne Anderson, Samantha and Ray Fowler, Wade Thomas Anderson, Maria Luisa Anderson, and Laurel and Michael Stein; eight grandchildren: Kristy Dawn Nations, Lisa Ann Frazier, Trina Lee Jewel, Jacob Colin Anderson, Hunter Thomas Anderson, Tessa Renee Fowler, Fletcher Grey Anderson, and Toben “Toby” Cash Fowler, as well as 12 great grandchildren.
Renee’s remains were cremated and will be interred at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia together with her husband’s at 3:00 pm on May 10th. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, or to the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, or to a charity of your choice.
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