Wade Brant Evans

After a year-long battle with cancer, loving husband, father, and brother, Wade Brant Evans, passed away on Friday, December 7, 2018, in Colleyville, Texas. As was his wish, Wade passed peacefully at home, surrounded by his wife and sisters.

Funeral services will be held on December 12, 2018, at 11:00 a.m. at Mobley Groesbeck Funeral Home in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Family visitation is December 11 from 6:00 until 7:30 p.m. Interment will be at Woodland Memorial Park following the service.

A memorial service will be held on December 15, 2018, at 12:30 p.m. at Bluebonnet Hills Funeral Home Chapel in Colleyville, Texas.

Wade was born on August 26, 1948, in Edmond, Oklahoma, to E. M. (Jack) and Phyllis Evans. He attended Sand Springs High School and Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

Wade joined the US Army in January of 1966 and served two tours of duty in Vietnam as a paratrooper and a LRRP (long range reconnaissance patrol) team leader. While serving in Vietnam, he was wounded and exposed to agent orange, which eventually led to his 100% service-connected disability. Wade served in the following military units: Headquarters Troup 1st of 10th Cavalry, Long Range Reconnaissance, 4th Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade 1st Platoon, 82nd Airborne Division. Wade was honored to be a member of the armed services and was proud of his contribution. His passing on Pearl Harbor Day was fitting.

Wade and Twyla enjoyed twenty-eight years of married life together. At various times, Wade owned his own trucking company, a bar, part ownership in a restaurant, and owned and managed a cabinet and trim shop. He also worked as a truck driver, a welder, a building contractor, and an insurance adjuster.

Wade was the ultimate salesman. He worked for several automobile dealerships in Tulsa, both as a salesman and as a fleet manager. He was also the General Manager for a Chevrolet dealership in Delaware. He won the Outstanding Salesman award several times.

Wade’s last and most rewarding career was in the catastrophe insurance adjusting business. He worked for several adjusting firms throughout the United States and Canada as an adjuster, as a storm manager, and as a Vice President. From major hurricanes Katrina and Ike to hail and flood events in Canada, Wade was packed and on the site within forty-eight hours, often living out of the state or country for months at a time. The last storm he worked was Hurricane Irma, which struck Florida in September of 2017.

Wade surrendered his life to a higher power when he joined The Program of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1993. He gave up his anonymity in the organization, saying that he could better support other members and those seeking guidance if he could help them by revealing himself. He was one of the founding members of his home group and celebrated twenty-five years of sobriety in August of this year.

Wade is described as “bigger than life”, a “man’s man”, and “the most dashing man I ever met”. Wade had high expectations of himself and always wanted people to “be straight with me” in all dealings, professional and personal.

Wade was preceded in death by his father, Jack, and his mother, Phyllis. He is survived by his wife Twyla; his son Shelby Morgan, wife Stacy, granddaughter Marley and step-grandchildren Cameryn and Logan of Jenks, OK; his sisters Lynna Campbell of Pryor, OK, Penny Lane of Salem, MO, and Deanne Wheeler of Sand Springs, OK; uncle E. L. Brant and wife Nancy of Golden, CO; sister-in-law Sheila and husband Billy Nettles of Norman, OK; numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

Though he will be greatly missed by all those he left behind, Wade is reunited with his mother, father, grandparents, his favorite Uncles Gilbert and Louis, other loved-ones, friends, and numerous beloved pets who passed before him.

A message of eternal gratitude goes to Wade’s cousin, Eric Nordstrom, who devoted two months of his life, helping with Wade’s care. Without Eric, Wade would not have been walking and enjoying his home and friends in Ardmore. Thank you, Eric.

A special thank you goes out to the Community Hospice of Texas in Fort Worth, especially to Max Daries, Wade’s hospice nurse, for his loving care and support, and to Dwayne Lee, Chaplain, for providing family comfort and for conducting his services. Donations to this organization in leu of flowers will be greatly appreciated.