Wade to be inducted into BPS Foundation Educator's Hall of Fame

During her first year of teaching, Mrs. Henrietta “Rita” Wade taught in the same one-room, rural schoolhouse she had attended as a child.

She spoke fondly of that experience where she “never (had) to worry about an administrator popping in” to check on her. And she had acres of science classrooms and softball fields just beyond the doorstep.

Wade taught first through eighth grades in the same classroom, pairing older students with younger students to help carry the load.

She has been selected as one of four retired Bartlesville Public Schools educators to be inducted into the Bartlesville Public Schools Foundation’s Educator Hall of Fame April 27.

Wade was born in 1932 in her parents’ farmhouse in Osborne, Kansas. She graduated from Osborne High School in 1950 and briefly attended Fort Hays Kansas State College, earning a two-year degree in elementary education. She taught school for fourteen years in Kansas.

She made several attempts to leave the classroom and stay at home with her children, but administrators would beg her to come back. One principal even came to her home to plead with her to return. She finally agreed to continue teaching. Her daughter, Lora, was her student in sixth grade. Lora attests that her mom was ahead of her time in hands-on learning and is grateful to have had the opportunity to experience what an amazing teacher her mother was.

During her time teaching in Kansas, Wade returned to college, studying at night and during the summers to get her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. She did her graduate work at St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City and returned to the Kansas classroom for another decade before she and her husband, Keat Wade, moved to Dewey in 1972.

Once in Oklahoma, Wade served as a teacher’s aide at Highland Park, using her 15 years of teaching experience to support a first-year teacher. Wade said it was a humbling experience, but she was able to serve as a mentor.

A few months later, Wade was offered a position at Central Junior High (now Central Middle School), teaching reading. While there she took classes at the University of Tulsa to earn a master’s degree in reading education. Her daughter, Lora, would drive her to and from Tulsa with her learner’s permit so Wade could study in the car.

At the end of her first year at Central, Don Derrick, the principal at the time, called her into his office and asked her to come up with a plan to raise reading scores. She guaranteed that if he would let her work with the teachers she chose and create the program she wanted, all seventh graders’ reading scores would improve at least one level. She followed through and delivered those results.

Wade taught Developmental Reading, Remedial Reading, and Language Arts at Central until she retired in 1994. Central maintained Wade’s reading program for years after she retired, pulling the speed-reading machines out of the basement and having her husband repair them to keep them running.

Earl Sears, who served as both a colleague and her principal, was known for reserving the title of “master teacher” as a top honor. He refers to Wade as a master teacher.

According to Sears, Wade was unwaveringly professional and caring and she excelled at classroom management. Associate District Court Judge Russ Vaclaw, a former student of both Wade and her daughter, remarked, “She taught and we learned. It is as simple as that. She loved challenging us and pushing us to be better.”

After her formal teaching career ended, Wade volunteered to teach adult reading classes as part of a GED program.

Wade died Nov. 5, 1996. She is survived by her husband, Keat Wade; her son, Brad Wade, who is the superintendent in Wyandotte; her daughter, Lora Watson; and her sister, Grace Harris, who is 101 years old. Her family includes four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

The Bartlesville Public Schools Foundation has been investing in students and staff members within the district since 1985. Over the decades, the non-profit organization has funded more than $3.5 million in creative projects outside of the traditional state, local, and federal sources to support state-of-the-art instruction. The money generated by the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on April 27, 2023, will help fund the organization’s programs.

This event is open to the public and tickets are available for $35 through the BPS Foundation’s website: https://bpsfoundation.org/educator-hall-of-fame/.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Wade to be inducted into BPS Foundation Educator's Hall of Fame