april 21, 1932 - may 1, 2023
rank: sk2
dates of service: 1951 - 1955
Wallace Weldon “Wally” Strader was born in Reidsville, NC on April 21, 1932, the second child and son of Arthur Weldon Strader and Emil Muriel McKinney Strader. He grew up on the family farm and graduated from Ruffin High School in 1950. He then served in the United States Navy from February 1951 to February 1955 seeing action during the Korean War aboard the USS Henley.
After completing his service in the Navy, he returned home to Ruffin where he began taking classes at Danville Technical Institute on the GI Bill graduating top of his class in 1958. While in school, he offered to let his sister Francis’ friend Alice Griffith share his daily commute to Danville. On July 30, 1960, Wallace and Alice were married. They settled in Lynchburg, VA where they welcomed their three sons: Wallace Jr., Stephen and Kevin. He was employed as an Electronics Engineer by General Electric for 26 years.
In 1985, he accepted a position with Aerotron Inc. in Raleigh as Manager of Manufacturing Engineering (later Design Engineering also) and thus he and Alice moved to Knightdale, NC. They found their church family at Bethlehem Baptist Church, where Wallace served as a Deacon, Chaired committees, taught Sunday School, and sang baritone in the church choir. After retiring in 1993, he continued to give his time generously to the church, acting as general contractor for the new fellowship hall and as Contract Administrator.
Wallace was devoted to his wife, family, and friends. He coached pee-wee football, and he was a little league baseball coach for more than 15 years. His two granddaughters: Reagan and Caroline, were the apple of his eye, and he was so proud to have seen Caroline’s high school graduation (2021) and Reagan’s college graduation (2022). He cared tenderly and selflessly for his wife Alice in the final years of her life when she was disabled by a stroke.
Finally, on May 1st, 2023, Wallace left this world to join his wife and eldest son just 10 days after his 91st birthday.
