Wade K Dickens

Mr. Wade K. Dickens, 91, former Columbia businessman and teacher and resident of Post Road in Nashville since his retirement in 1980, died Sunday, September 4, 2005 at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. at Oakes & Nichols with Rev. Russ Corley and Rev. Jeff Jacob officiating.Burial will be in the Polk Memorial Gardens. The family will visit with friends Tuesday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to the American Red Cross. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com. A native of Estill Springs, Tennessee, he was the son of the late William Kidwell Dickens and Lena Byrom Dickens. He was a graduate of Southern Methodist University and earned his Master's Degree from George Peabody College. Mr. Dickens served as principal of McDowell Elementary School for several years and later taught Spanish at Columbia Central High School. In 1950, he became associated with the Sherwin-Williams Company and managed their store in Columbia until this retirement in 1980. Following his retirement he worked for 25 years as a volunteer at Vanderbilt Medical Center, Baptist Hospital, the Upper Room Prayer Center, Crisis Intervention Center and Alive Hospice. Since a resident of Nashville he was a member of the Brentwood United Methodist Church and was a former member and active in the affairs of the First United Methodist Church in Columbia. His wife of 63 years, Wilda Bass Dickens, preceded him in death April 3, 2000. Survivors include two sons and daughters-in-law, Byrom and Claudia Dickens of Atlanta, Georgia and Robert and Cheryl Dickens of Roswell, Georgia; two grandchildren, Chris Dickens of Atlanta and Alyssa Dickens of Roswell; a great-grandson, Joshua Christopher Russo of Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania; two nieces, Jean Dickens McGuire and Nancy Dickens Eason, both of Nashville; a nephew, Ward Dickens of Gainesville, Florida.