Staff Writer

Union lost a longtime business and community leader Tuesday night with the death of Boyce Wade.

Wade, 87, of 500 Springdale Drive, widower of Muriel Mayo Wade, died Tuesday evening in Spartanburg Regional Hospice House.

Wade was an agent with State Farm Insurance for 59 years and owner and operator of Boyce Wade's State Farm Agency.

On April 1, 1950, Wade became the first direct writing agent for State Farm in Union. His business grew to insuring thousands of homes and cars with some of his customers having been with him since he opened for business. He received numerous awards for his success, including being named to the President's Club as a top salesman in the state on more than one occasion. He was named to the State Farm Regional Vice-President's Council several times.

“I just love to meet people and to help people,” Wade said in a 1995 interview. “I raised a family in this business and I don't know what else to do, really. We just tried to make it a family business and we never really had any trouble.”

A Chester native, Wade was the son of the late Frank T. and Janie Shirley Wade and stepson of Nettie Howell Wade.

Wade graduated from Union High School in May of 1942 and married his high school sweetheart, Muriel Mayo, that July. In August, he was drafted into the Army. During World War II he served in Europe for three years as an ambulance driver and worked in the postal exchange.

When he returned from the war, Wade and his brother, Frank Wade Jr., operated the grocery store on Lowe Street in Ottaray their father had begun. The brothers alternated days using the delivery truck.

“It wasn't a good time to go into business,” Wade said. “Practically everything was rationed. I wore my uniform for two weeks after I got out of the service because I couldn't get any clothes.”

C. David Wade, Wade's cousin, operated a State Farm agency in Chester and encouraged Wade to go into the insurance business. Only one person in Union, Dr. F.P. Owings, had insurance with State Farm, an automobile policy, which Owings continued to maintain until his death. Wade began selling policies and kept his records in the back of the grocery store.

Wade relocated the agency to North Gadberry Street and in 1980 he moved to his present location on West Main Street.

State Farm Insurance was founded in 1929 to offer lower insurance premiums to farmers, who often drove their cars only one day a week. Wade said when he first began selling policies in 1950, liability for farmers was $9.66 for six months and for others was $13.77 for six months. There were fewer cars then and people who did have cars drove less often, he said.

Because of high sales, Wade won numerous trips and traveled to Europe several times. He and his wife were in England for the royal wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana and saw the wedding procession.

Involved in the community, Wade was a Civitan for 25 years and served on the Union Hospital District Board of Trustees for more than 25 years. He was a member of Mon-Aetna Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon and was church treasurer for many years. He was a Mason, a Shriner and a member of Union Elks Lodge #1321.

The Rev. Benny Green, pastor of Mon-Aetna Baptist, said Wade was a fine Christian gentleman who loved people and who was one of the most loved people in the community.

“He was full of life, generous to others, a friend to many people,” Green said. “I personally found Boyce to be a great encourager to me as a pastor. He was just a blessing to know and I will miss him greatly.”

Green said many times when she saw Wade in public Wade was paying for someone else's meal or doing some other good deed.

“He would walk up to me and say, ‘Is there someone who needs help? Who can I help?'” Green remembers. “He was a person who endeared himself to the community and did a lot behind the scenes.”

The Rev. Brad Goodale, pastor of Philippi Baptist Church where Wade's son, Mark, and his family attend, said he had heard good things about Wade long before he met him personally.

“He was a phenomenal man who knew the Lord and we shared that,” Goodale said. “We had a lot of talks and he always encouraged me in what I was doing.”

Wade often said, “Love the Lord and love people and you will be all right,” Goodale said.

Goodale said when he went to see Wade in the hospital Thursday, he knew he would not live much longer.

“I knew it was the last time I would see him this side of heaven,” Goodale said. “When I left I said, ‘Mr. Boyce, I will see you later.' He said, ‘Absolutely you will see me later.' We both knew without saying that we meant in heaven.”

Wade's survivors include three sons, Terry James Wade and wife, Becky; Timothy Boyce Wade and fiance Cindi Ellis and Mark C. Wade and wife, April, all of Union; a daughter-in-law, Delores G. Wade of Union, widow of his predeceased son, Danny Mayo Wade Sr.; a loving companion, Gail Cobb of Union and her entire family; four brothers, Darrell, Tom, Billy and Jackie Wade, all of Union; a sister, Veirlie W. Hodge of Union; and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Wade was predeceased by four brothers and four sisters.

Wade's family is at the home on 500 Springdale Drive. Funeral arrangements will be announced later by the S.R. Holcombe Funeral Home.