Lewis (Lew) Clark Wade, passed away, at the age of 91, on October 7, 2023, in Houston, Texas, his home for the last 57 years of his life.  Lew was born on May 16, 1932, in Cincinnati, Ohio to Herschel William Wade and Hilda Elizabeth (Dietz) Wade. Lew spent much of his early years growing up in Ohio and Massachusetts before his father was later transferred to various locations in South and Latin America during his high school years.  The family ultimately returned to the U.S. for Lew’s senior year where he graduated from Quincy High School in Quincy, Massachusetts.  Following high school, Lew was accepted into the Naval ROTC program at Penn State University.  During his tenure at Penn State, Lew spent summers as a midshipman in various locations in Europe, the U.S. and Guantanamo Bay.  After graduating college with a Bachelor of Science in Geophysics, Lew began his 3-year assignment in the Navy as a Lieutenant JG serving in a variety of locations in the U.S. and abroad as well as a 6-month stent in the Persian Gulf.

In 1958, Lew attended a friend’s wedding where he would meet his future wife of 62 years, Joan Gatlin.  After leaving the Navy, Lew took a new position in Washington D.C. where he joined the Hydrographic Office (now the Navy Oceanographic Office) to do marine surveying for a classified Navy program, leading him back out to the Mediterranean and Norwegian seas.  The year 1961 brought big changes to Lew’s life as he accepted a position with the CIA and later married Joan in August of the same year.  While working for the CIA, Lew and Joan welcomed their two children, John in August of 1962, and Andrea in May 1965.  In 1966, an opportunity was presented to Lew to join Raytheon Autometric which would also prompt a move of the family from Vienna, Virginia to Houston, Texas.  One of his first responsibilities with Raytheon was reviewing Lunar Orbiter photographs to identify Apollo mission landing sites for NASA.  Lew’s work with Raytheon was well received by his peers at NASA and he was subsequently offered and took a position there in August of the following year.  Working for NASA was Lew’s dream profession and, while often asked to work for contractors, he chose to stay with NASA for the remainder of his career, retiring in 1996.  During his tenure at NASA, Lew worked in a variety of areas.  His first role was working for the Apollo Missions focusing on interpreting Lunar photography to make recommendations on areas of the moon to investigate as well as landing sites.  Notably, Lew was part of the team that selected the Sea of Tranquility as the first lunar landing site and was in Mission Control as the Apollo 11 touch down took place.  Lew was involved in many of the early Apollo missions including the successful recovery of the Apollo 13 module and astronauts.  After Apollo 15, Lew began work for NASA’s Earth Resources program which would ultimately lead to his final position as a Shuttle Payloads Mission Manager.  In this role, Lew concentrated on a joint venture program with the German and Italian governments and U.S. based Jet Propulsion Laboratories or JPL.  Lew managed 3 of these missions, working with participants from the joint venture team and NASA personnel and astronauts.  A fond memory of his family is when they and some close friends were able to attend one of the launches at Cape Canaveral and listen to Lew over the loudspeaker in the final countdown to liftoff.

While Lew had a long and storied career, he also enjoyed all things sports.  In his early years, Lew played baseball, softball and football later becoming an avid competitive bowler with his wife, Joan.  Lew and Joan also both played tennis and were early members of Bay Area Racquet Club where they introduced both their kids to tennis.  His daughter, Andrea, took to tennis immediately and Lew was often seen by the courts watching her play.  His son, John, had more of the mechanical mind in common with Lew and, at a very early age, they began deconstructing and reconstructing everything from household clocks to lawn mowers and ultimately cars.

After retiring, Lew continued to pursue many of his passions which included the love of travel, playing golf and rooting for the Texans to finally take home the big win.  Lew and Joan were also longtime members of Bay Oaks Country Club, where Lew and some of his buddies founded the Bay Oaks Old Boys golf group, better known to those at Bay Oaks as the “BOOBs”.  Traveling the world was another of Lew’s loves.  Together, he and Joan have visited nearly every continent and too many iconic destinations to count.

Following retirement, Lew also welcomed the births of his two granddaughters, Lauren, and Katherine (Katie).  It took over 50 years but Lauren’s graduation from Ohio State in 2021 was the much-needed catalyst to get Lew back on the grounds of the Buckeyes.  As a proud Penn State Nittany Lion, this was quite an accomplishment, particularly when his brother had also attended and graduated from that same rival nation.

In his 91 years, Lew accomplished many things, but his greatest accomplishment is the memories he made and shared with his beloved family and friends.

Lew is preceded in death by his parents and stepmother, Sigrid, stepsister, Ellen, and brother John (Jack).  He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Joan, his son John Wade, daughter Andrea Koop (Mike), granddaughters, Lauren and Katherine (Katie) Koop and many nieces, nephews and their children.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Monday, December 18, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 18220 Upper Bay Road, Houston, Texas, 77058.  The service will be preceded by a visitation commencing at 9:00 a.m. and a reception will be held immediately following the service.

In lieu of flowers those wishing to make a memorial donation in Lew’s memory may do so to The Gloria Dei Lutheran Church Endowment Fund @ https://members.gdlc.org/giving or the charity of your choice.