James Wade Burt

View Funeral Webcast James Wade Burt, 88, well-known retired Columbia banker, died Thursday, May 19, 2011 at Maury Regional Medical Center. Funeral services will be conducted Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols with Rev. Jeff Jacob officiating. Burial will follow in Rose Hill Cemetery. The family will visit with friends Monday from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home. The family suggests memorials to the Kiwanis College Scholarship Fund, P. O. Box 281, Columbia 38402 or the American Red Cross, Maury County Chapter, 302 West 7th Street, Columbia 38401. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com. Born in Decatur, Alabama, he was the son of the late Thomas Jackson Burt and Elsie Ussery Burt. He was a 1941 graduate of Columbia Central High School and after graduation was recommended for a bookkeeping position at Middle Tennessee Bank by one of his teachers. After working at the bank for 18 months, he was inducted into the U. S. Air Force in 1943 at the outbreak of World War II. He was assigned to the 489th Bomb Group as an aircraft armorer. He then transferred to the 8th Army with the rank of Sergeant, serving in Normandy, Northern France, and Rhineland in the European Air Offensive and was awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern ribbon with 4 bronze stars. Following discharge from the U. S. Army in 1945, he returned to Columbia and the Middle Tennessee Bank as a teller and later cashier. In the 1960s he was promoted to the position of Vice President after attending the School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University. During his banking career, he served in various capacities as an officer of the Middle Tennessee Bank for over fifty years. He retired in 1991 as Executive Vice President having missed only three days of work at the bank during his employment. Active in civic and community affairs for many years, he was a former member and President of the Maury County Chamber of Commerce and member of the Columbia Kiwanis Club with 42 years perfect attendance. He served as club President in 1978, Lt. Governor of the Kentucky-Tennessee District, was a member of the Kiwanis Legion of Honor, and was honored as a George F. Hixson Fellow. He was a member of Herbert Griffin American Legion Post #19. An outdoorsman all his life, Mr. Burt continued to enjoy fishing and playing cards during his retirement years. An avid golfer, he was a long-time member of Graymere Country Club and enjoyed being an OGOG. Survivors include his wife, Jean Carolyn Walker Burt, whom he married October 15, 1947; a son and daughter-in-law, Stephen Wade and Sylvia Thompson Burt of Columbia; grandsons, Jim Burt, Lucas Burt, and Russell Burt; brothers and sister-in-law, Ray and Lee Burt and Tom and Joy Burt of Columbia; several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by a brother, Wallace Burt. Active pallbearers are Jim Burt, Lucas Burt, Russell Burt, Danny Burt, Ricky Burt, Scott Burt, Shelby Carpenter, and Joe Gibson. Honorary pallbearers include past and present members of Columbia Kiwanis Club and former employees of Middle Tennessee Bank and the OGOG (Old Gentlemen of Graymere)