Obituary of Thomas R. Wade II

Thomas R. Wade, 54, died May 8, 2015 in New Mexico. A memorial service will be held 11 a.m., Saturday, October 3, 2015, at the Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City where a reception will immediately follow. Private family burial of Tom's cremated remains will take place at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Iowa City. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to the following: American Diabetes Association, 2270 Wyoming Blvd NE, Suite D#284, Albuquerque, NM 87112; SNIP c/o HART, PO Box 267, Los Lunas, NM 87031(this is a low cost spay and neuter program for the county); or Peralta Memorial United Methodist Church (Music), 25 Wesley Rd, Peralta, NM 87042. Thomas Robert Wade II was born February 18, 1961, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; son of Thomas Robert Wade and Ida Evonne Djerf. During his early childhood, he lived in Cedar Rapids, IA; Arlington, VA; Minneapolis, MN; Chicago and Oak Park, IL; and Iowa City, IA where he graduated from City High School in 1979 and the University of Iowa in 1985. Tom met Erika Anne Barfknecht at the Iowa Memorial Union Bookstore in 1985. They began dating May 12, 1985 and were engaged that fall. Tom and Erika were married January 11, 1987 at Danforth Chapel on the University of Iowa campus. He started to work for Wal-Mart in 1986 and completed his Assistant Store Manager training in Norman and Shawnee, OK. He was transferred to Sparta and Richland Center, WI, Galesburg, IL and Scottsburg, IN. In 1988, Tom entered the training program for the Follett Higher Education Group to become a College Bookstore Manager. His first store was Sangamon State University, Springfield, IL. In 1991, he moved to Tyler Junior College, Tyler, TX and in 1996 moved to Albuquerque Vocational Technical Institute in Albuquerque, NM. In 2005, he left retail, began to pursue a career in paralegal studies, and graduated with honors from Central New Mexico Community College in 2008.He worked for New Mexico Legal Aid in Socorro and Albuquerque. He left that field in 2010. Tom's last position was as a cage vault cashier for Sandia Casino, Albuquerque, NM. He loved his Cubs, took voice lessons and followed all Chicago sports. He loved his animals, watching military movies and re-runs of '24'. Tom's family includes his wife, Erika; mother, Ida; three brothers, Bill, Steve and Dave; six nephews; two nieces; and his cats, Missy, Pixie, Bella, Sheba, and Lexie; and Kaiser, the Corgi. He was preceded in death by his father and grandparents.