Wade Lee Moore, age 80, of Allen, Texas, passed away July 20, 2015. He was born on November 15, 1934, to John and Oma Moore in Amarillo, Texas. He attended Elizabeth Nixon Junior High and Amarillo High School, where he sang in choirs and operettas. It was there that he met his high school sweetheart, Ann Weatherly. He decided to attend North Texas State University because he thought it was a good music school. There, he sang in the chorus of the college’s “La Boheme”. He also sang in the Amarillo’s city-sponsored musicals in Sam Houston Park. He met Dick Penner at NTSU and they became fraternity brothers. One day they climbed on the roof of their fraternity house and wrote “Ooby Dooby”. Wade and Dick sang together at their fraternity house, campus theatre, and other colleges, such as Baylor, Texas A&M, and SMU. They started winning collegiate and intercollegiate talent shows. They started performing in nightclubs, theatres, and the Big D Jamboree in Dallas, with Elvis Presley.
Fellow student, Roy Orbison called Wade one day and asked if he could come play rhythm guitar with them for a show. Wade agreed and Roy came to play with them at the campus theatre one night. Sometime afterwards, Roy got an offer from Sun Records to record “Ooby Dooby”.
After Roy recorded “Ooby Dooby”, he told Wade he thought it would be a hit. He also got Wade and Dick in to see Sam Philips who offered “Wade and Dick and The College Kids” an opportunity to record some songs with Sun Records. So the 5 of them: Wade Moore, Dick Penner, Don Jenkins, Bob Izer, and Roger Berkley rented a trailer and hopped into Dick’s father’s car and headed to Memphis. There they recorded 5 songs: “Bop Bop Baby”, “Wild Woman”, “Don’t Need Your Lovin Baby”, “Some Day Baby” and “Someone I’ll Love”. Wade said “Sam Philips was the best in rockabilly and had launched the careers of Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, etc.” Sam wanted Wade and Dick to move to Memphis to record more music. Wade was thrilled, but Dick wanted to continue his studies at North Texas, so they didn’t move there.
Wade graduated for NTSU in 1957 with a degree in History and married his longtime girlfriend Ann Weatherly, who was also born and raised in Amarillo. He followed in his brother, John’s footsteps and entered law school at Baylor University; but after one year, it became apparent to him that he was not designed to be a lawyer. He continued to perform in shows and traveled with Roy Orbison for about 6 months. His wife Ann became pregnant and he decided to settle down in Amarillo with his wife and daughter-to-be. He worked as a stockbroker for about 7 years before moving with his family to Houston. There he explored various opportunities in sales, and finally started a company that produced resin-coated sand, and was also a commodities broker. There they lived for over 43 years. Around 1994, Wade and Ann joined Tallowood Baptist Church of Houston where he sang in the choir for about 12 years until he was no longer able to climb the risers due to health issues.
In 2011, he fell and broke his hip, so he and Ann moved to assisted living in Dallas, to be near their daughter Lane. His health declined after this, but he and Ann continued to take care of each other. They were married for 58 years. He has 2 daughters, Lisa Moore Scarcia, who lives in Carlsbad, CA, and Lane Moore Cowart, who lives in Allen, Texas. He also had 2 sons-in-laws, Rick Scarcia, and Tom Cowart, and 4 grandchildren, Lane Scarcia, Kyle Scarcia, Grace Cowart and Jack Cowart.
Wade’s love of music didn’t end in Denton, Texas. He continued to have success with his songs being recorded by other bands such as “Credence Clearwater Revival” and “The Traveling Wilbury’s”. His songs were also in feature films, “Star Trek-First Contact”, and “Walk the Line”. He had a beautiful singing voice and was often asked to sing at weddings, funerals, and parties. Growing up, his daughters remember him singing and whistling everywhere he went. He took his family to see musicals and concerts all the time. He instilled a great appreciation for music and a love for cooking that his daughters have passed down to their children.
“Although you’re no longer in pain, it’s hard to say good bye, until we meet again, keep singin that rockabilly in the sky”.
Wade will always be remembered as a loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend. He was a kind-hearted, generous, compassionate man and he will be greatly missed.
A funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, July 30, 2015 at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home in Allen, Texas. Interment will follow at Ridgeview Memorial Park. The family will receive friends during a visitation being held from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., Wednesday evening at the funeral home.