ST. JOSEPH, La. — Services for Thomas Magruder Wade III, 98, of St. Joseph, La., who died Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012, will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Christ Episcopal Church in St. Joseph with the Revs. Jacob W. Owensby, bishop of the Western Diocese of Louisiana, and Robert Cooper officiating.

Burial will follow in the Natchez City Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. until service time at the church.

Mr. Wade was born May 3, 1914, in St. Joseph, the son of Thomas Magruder Wade Jr. and Kate LaCour Wade.

Mr. Wade attended Marion Military Academy in Alabama and Louisiana State University. He graduated from LSU Law School in 1937. Mr. Wade practiced law in St. Joseph and briefly served as mayor of the town until December 1941, when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Mr. Wade served as naval intelligence officer aboard the U.S.S. Taney in the Pacific Ocean theatre during World War II. He received his honorable discharge in April 1946 and returned to Baton Rouge.

In June 1946, Mr. Wade met Alma Fluitt, a Haynesville native, at the LSU Law Library. They married six months later on Dec. 8, 1946.

In 1957, Mr. Wade graduated from the Theological Seminary of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. He was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church and served as rector of Trinity Church in DeRidder from 1957 until 1960, rector of St. John’s Church in Minden from 1960 until 1966, associate rector of St. James in Baton Rouge from 1966 until 1971 and rector of St. Michael’s in Pineville from 1971 until his retirement in 1979. He and his wife then returned to his childhood home of St. Joseph where he remained until his death.

Mr. Wade was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Burton L. Wade.

Survivors include his wife; their son, Thomas F. Wade, and his wife, Marsha Mason Wade, of Baton Rouge; daughter, Roberta L. Wade of Pineville; three granddaughters, Katherine B. Wade of New Orleans, Leslie M. Smith and husband, Wayne, and Heather M. Webb and husband, Rick, all of Baton Rouge; great-granddaughter, Sydney Smith of Baton Rouge; his sister-in-law; stepsister, and nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Christ Episcopal Church in St. Joseph or to a charity of the donor’s choice.