Wade Edward McCord

Wade Edward McCord passed away on July 16th from prostate/bone cancer. Wade was born in Dillon, Montana on June 15, 1953 to LaVerne and Dorothy (Seybold) McCord. He attended school in Virginia City and Whitehall, Montana. He participated in 4-H, wrestling and high school rodeos. After high school he and his best friend Terry Olind sheered sheep, worked on the railroad and participated in all the rodeos they could, riding bulls and bareback broncs.

He married Loretta Ingram in 1983 and helped raise her three daughters Robin, Justeena and Brandi and they had a son, Terry McCord.

His stepson Jack Ashcraft has this to say about him:

Wade, "Big Mac" came into my life around 1997 when he married my mom. He was an honest, hardworking, incredibly tough man, and an exceptional father. Usually going by "Big Mac", he worked at the Golden Sunlight Mine in Whitehall for many years operating machinery

and training new employees. Eventually, work took him to the Black Hills in South Dakota where he worked for the Barrick Gold Corporation, then on to the Elko, Nevada area. Afterwards, he worked at the Ruby Hill mine in Eureka, Nevada and ended his mining career in Ely, Nevada when he retired. When he wasn't busy at the mine, he still enjoyed shearing sheep which he'd done for many of his younger years. He was loved and respected by many of his coworkers for his calm, caring attitude and big smile with an infectious laugh. Always in top physical form, the only time I recall him being reprimanded was for doing pushups in the cab of the shovel while waiting for haul trucks to arrive.

About the time we moved to South Dakota, missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became good friends of ours and we embraced the church. Wade held great devotion to the church and truly lived his life the best he could to uphold their ideals. The church has been a significant part of his life ever since.

Wade loved the outdoors and physical sports. Bull riding was a major part of his personality and he continued to compete well into his 40's. He'd often say, "You just gotta keep a leg on each side and your mind in the middle to win". The loss of his best friend and bull riding buddy Terry Olind was a huge blow to him and although he no longer competed, he was more than happy to watch reruns of the PBR on cable... every night. He was incredibly supportive and was there from my first mutton busting to junior rodeo and finally to bulldogging in high school rodeo (he said anyone with common sense wouldn't get on a bull - it didn't take much convincing for me to choose other events). My brother, Ben, and I loved it when he'd bring our horses down to the elementary school in Spring Creek so we could ride home instead of me taking the bus.

Wade was an excellent wrestler and helped coach the Ruby Mountain Wrestling little kids team in Spring Creek, Nevada which both my brother and I went through. About the same size as the junior high kids at 5'2" and 130 pounds, he made a very stout opponent even in his 50's. When he was in high school, he'd often chuckle when it was time for weigh-ins, saying he was so light that he'd have to eat a full meal to be eligible to wrestle in the 95 pound weight class.

Wade was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in 2013 and the doctors gave him 6 years to live if he followed all their treatment plans. If you know any bull riders, you know their stubbornness and this information didn't slow him down at all. In fact, he had to take a year off treatment due to a horse wreck in 2015 where a horse went over backwards on him, resulting in several broken ribs, cracked vertebrae and too many broken bones to count. As soon as he was able, he was back at spurring cancer into submission.

Eventually the cancer came back worse than before, and Wade retired from the machinery operating and training work that he loved and had done for so long. His thoughts turned to the past and rekindled relationships with all his children. He moved back and forth between Montana, Arizona, and Idaho while continuing his cancer treatments and spending time with his sister, kids, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He was an incredible role model and an amazing dad. He was well-loved and will be missed by anyone lucky enough to know him. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Jim McCord, step-daughter, Brandi McCord Haas,, stepson, Ben Ashcraft.

He is survived by his brother Frank McCord (Anne Smart), sisters Vernine Bertrand (Jim), Elaine Bernard and Linda Newcomer, son Terry McCord, stepdaughters Robin Ingram and Justeena Colt Mitchell, stepson Jack Ashcraft, 11 grandchildren and 3 Greatgrandchildren