Nancy Wade

Nancy Wade was a lifelong and well-respected resident of Huntington. She attended and graduated from Douglass High School after she was told she would never graduate because she was already married and had two children. She went on to Marshall University and graduated with a double major in accounting and Spanish. She later attended Ohio State University and West Virginia University to earn her master’s degree in social work.

She began working with the Department of Health and Human Resources Services in 1960 and when she retired in 1986, she was supervisor of the Social Workers Division. She was the first professional Black social worker in the West Virginia Department of Human Services in Cabell County.

Nancy was an active member of Young Chapel AME Church, holding several positions and singing with the church’s senior choir and liberation choir. She was active with the local chapter of the NAACP and was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

She worked closely with Phil Carter in Marshall’s Social Work Department, where she served on the advisory board.  She was a member of the National Association of Social Workers and was inducted into the Marshall University Black Legends Society. She also was a member of the Selective Services Board in Charleston and was a member of the Home Health Review and Advisory Committee at Cabell Huntington Hospital. She was a member of the statewide planning committee of the Alliance for the Collection, Preservation and Dissemination of West Virginia Black History.

Her son, David, describes her as a very intelligent woman and loving mother with a big heart and beautiful voice.