Church deacon who ‘died in the house of the Lord’ remembered for life of service
That Tony Wallace was in church when he died, while tragic, befitted his life of service.
He had grown up in the red pews of the 6th Avenue Church of Christ in Mineral Wells.
A man of deep faith, Wallace, 64, had become a deacon at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement.
Two weeks ago, on the last Sunday morning in December, Wallace and Richard White, another member of the church, were shot to death during communion by a man the church had tried to help.
Wallace was holding a communion tray when he was fired upon.
“He died in the house of the Lord. Serving,” his daughter Sarah said Saturday at his funeral. Wallace’s other daughter, Tiffany, held her sister as her voice choked with emotion.
Wallace lived in Fort Worth and had worked for much of his life as a nurse and a nursing supervisor.
Wallace’s love for his family was clear. Many recalled his attention to “Julie and the girls,” his wife and daughters. Wallace also had four grandchildren.
“He so loved them all,” said Ron Rutledge, a West Freeway member, during the service at Altamesa Church of Christ in Fort Worth.
Wallace had worked at Cook Children’s Medical Center and at the Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hemodialysis Unit.
Wallace’s brother Carlos recalled his brother’s time as an entrepreneur in his youth, earning money shining boots as the family moved around the country and to Germany. Their father was in the military.
Nurses, some wearing scrubs, attended the service, as did Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn and Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus.
The circumstances of Wallace’s death were hardly a focus of his funeral. Many of the remembrances were of his work as a nurse and his religious life.
Minister Jon Morrison delivered the eulogy and said Wallace would leave “a legacy of faith.”
He had been “snatched in a moment of turmoil,” the minister said.
Wallace’s daughter Sarah recalled adventures with her father, their road trips and his predictable, corny jokes.
He guided his daughters as they had their first kiss, first dance and first love.
“That first love was our dad,” she said.
And, they listened to their father’s long speeches, in which he would dispense advice, often backed with a Bible verse.
Sarah Wallace said she would give anything to hear one of those long speeches again.
This story was originally published January 11, 2020 at 6:27 PM.
