Obituary of Wanda Gadd

WALTON - Debbie Gadd's mother never hesitated to welcome into her home strangers who needed a place to stay."She would open it to evangelists and people traveling through town. We'd give up our beds for them," Debbie Gadd said. "She dedicated her life to ministering to other people and being a leader." Wanda Hatton Gadd died Monday, Dec. 28, at St. Elizabeth Healthcare of Florence. She was 89. Mrs. Gadd and her husband, the Rev. Dee S. Gadd, who died in 1986, were the founders and ministers of Community Pentecostal Church of God in Kenton County in the early 1950s. They moved to Walton in the early 1960s where they founded Walton Church of God, which grew to nearly 150 members at its peak. "Her entire life was the church," Debbie Gadd said of her mother. "Her church family was so important to her." Mrs. Gadd also preached over the airwaves. In the 1970s she hosted two weekly radio shows for about six years, one in Mount Sterling, and the other on WHKK in Erlanger. During the 30-minute segments, she sang, took prayer requests and gave sermons. "Someone who used to listen to her on the radio called a couple years ago and asked my mom to pray for their mom, who was ill," Debbie Gadd said. "It was just phenomenal that after all those years, someone was looking for her, asking for her prayers." Ted Bushelman, a Florence city councilman, was general manager of WHKK during Mrs. Gadd's show. "She did a great show - it was one of our 'cream of the crop' shows," Bushelman said. "She was very popular, and I always got a good response from that program. "About the time her husband died, Mrs. Gadd began volunteering at St. Luke Hospital West in the surgery lounge, comforting families whose loved ones were being operated on. She did that daily for 12 years. "She was so dedicated to that job," Debbie Gadd said. "If it snowed when she was there, she would spend the night there and get back to work the next morning." She said her mom also loved to bake. This past November, while living at Gallatin Health Care in Warsaw, the staff took Mrs. Gadd into the kitchen and helped her bake a couple of her famous blackberry cakes for the other residents. "She cried," Debbie Gadd said. "It made her so happy to get in the kitchen again." Besides her husband, Mrs. Gadd was preceded in death by her daughter, Linda (Race) Rouse, and stepdaughter, Jeannine Gadd. Survivors include daughters Deborah Gadd of Paris, Ky., Lori Black of Florence and Martha Day of Morning View; stepson William P. Gadd Sr. of South Pittsburg, Tenn.; 15 grandchildren; and 29 great-grandchildren. Visitation will be 5-8 p.m. today, Dec. 30, at Chambers and Grubbs Funeral Home in Walton. Funeral service will be 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 31, at the funeral home. Burial will be in New Bethel Cemetery in Verona.