Goodnight, dear Daddy, and Godspeed
Thank you all for the sweet comments you've left me over my last few posts, and throughout the years as I've written about my father. This is the piece I wrote for the local paper about his life and passing. I just wanted to share it with you. Hugs and Love to all.
Billy Tate was born February 23, 1932, in Mebane, North Carolina to William and Frances Currie Tate. Interesting note: Billy thought he was a Jr. until he was thirty-one years old and preparing for a trip to Canada when he found out that his middle name was actually Andrew, in honor of his father’s good friend, and not Alphonsa like his dad’s.
Billy lived in Mebane until he was eight years old, when his family, including a new sister, Mary Jane, moved to Lauderdale County to be near his mother’s family, the Currie’s. He grew up there on the farm just outside of Henning, surrounded by relatives in Lauderdale and Haywood counties, all who loved and doted on him.
As a youth, Billy was both athletic and smart, but his first love was baseball. He pitched for Henning in the county league and then played for business teams in Memphis once he moved to the city. In later years, he became a tennis fan, whiling away many happy afternoons watching John McEnroe, Maria Sharapova and Andrew Murray. He also followed the Boston Red Sox and the Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina never straying far from his mind.
At the ripe old age of eighteen, he fell in love with Ann Elmore, a love that lasted for sixty-three years. They married in Hernando, Mississippi, on December 5, 1953. They lived in Memphis and West Memphis until 1968, when they moved with their three-year-old daughter Jane Evelyn back home to the farm in Henning.
Billy loved being back in Henning and made the most of country life, still working in Memphis at Gordon’s Transport but spending his free time close to home, gardening, reading, tromping through the woods - never hunting but occasionally fishing -and caring for his parents and in-laws, the Elmores of Curve.
As a young boy, he loved listening to the Grand Ole Opry and the music of that era remained a lifelong passion. He bought a cheap guitar and taught himself to play at an early age and continued to enjoy playing and singing those same old songs all his life. He was pretty handy with a pool cue too, spending many hours around the tables in Memphis, then Ripley, and finally building a pool room of his own right in the back yard.
When Billy was fifty-one years old, the rheumatic fever he’d had as a child finally caught up with him and he had the first of three major heart surgeries to repair damaged valves. His childhood doctors had said he probably wouldn’t live past fifty but he got an extra thirty-one years, thanks to the talented doctors and nurses at Baptist Hospital. (Cudos also go to his wife, Ann, who spent almost as many nights in the hospital as he did through the years, devoted to her promise to stand by him in sickness and in health. She honored that promise faithfully till the very end.)
Billy was baptized in the Crossroads Presbyterian Church back in North Carolina, and remained close to his faith all his life. For the past twenty years, he’s been an active and devoted member of the Hurricane Hill Methodist Church in Ripley, where he sang in the choir and often played his guitar and sang at their parties and events. The little church sustained his faith and was also a great source of joy and laughter. The friendships he made there were a treasured blessing in his life.
Billy passed away peacefully in the Lauderdale Community Hospital on Sunday evening, October 6, surrounded by his family. He leaves behind his wife, Ann, and his daughter Jane Evelyn Ashe (Jim). He was predeceased by his sister Mary Jane Webb and leaves behind her daughters Camille Thornton (Steve) and Mary Elizabeth Schibler (Chuck), along with four great nephews. He also leaves nieces Carolyn Mitchell (Bobby), Patricia Kern (Bob), Kay Pike and their children and grandchildren. Last but definitely not least, he leaves behind a bevy of pets, cats and dogs who came into his life as strays but who loved and cherished him and will miss him just as much as we do.
Billy Tate was born February 23, 1932, in Mebane, North Carolina to William and Frances Currie Tate. Interesting note: Billy thought he was a Jr. until he was thirty-one years old and preparing for a trip to Canada when he found out that his middle name was actually Andrew, in honor of his father’s good friend, and not Alphonsa like his dad’s.
Billy lived in Mebane until he was eight years old, when his family, including a new sister, Mary Jane, moved to Lauderdale County to be near his mother’s family, the Currie’s. He grew up there on the farm just outside of Henning, surrounded by relatives in Lauderdale and Haywood counties, all who loved and doted on him.
As a youth, Billy was both athletic and smart, but his first love was baseball. He pitched for Henning in the county league and then played for business teams in Memphis once he moved to the city. In later years, he became a tennis fan, whiling away many happy afternoons watching John McEnroe, Maria Sharapova and Andrew Murray. He also followed the Boston Red Sox and the Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina never straying far from his mind.
At the ripe old age of eighteen, he fell in love with Ann Elmore, a love that lasted for sixty-three years. They married in Hernando, Mississippi, on December 5, 1953. They lived in Memphis and West Memphis until 1968, when they moved with their three-year-old daughter Jane Evelyn back home to the farm in Henning.
Billy loved being back in Henning and made the most of country life, still working in Memphis at Gordon’s Transport but spending his free time close to home, gardening, reading, tromping through the woods - never hunting but occasionally fishing -and caring for his parents and in-laws, the Elmores of Curve.
As a young boy, he loved listening to the Grand Ole Opry and the music of that era remained a lifelong passion. He bought a cheap guitar and taught himself to play at an early age and continued to enjoy playing and singing those same old songs all his life. He was pretty handy with a pool cue too, spending many hours around the tables in Memphis, then Ripley, and finally building a pool room of his own right in the back yard.
When Billy was fifty-one years old, the rheumatic fever he’d had as a child finally caught up with him and he had the first of three major heart surgeries to repair damaged valves. His childhood doctors had said he probably wouldn’t live past fifty but he got an extra thirty-one years, thanks to the talented doctors and nurses at Baptist Hospital. (Cudos also go to his wife, Ann, who spent almost as many nights in the hospital as he did through the years, devoted to her promise to stand by him in sickness and in health. She honored that promise faithfully till the very end.)
Billy was baptized in the Crossroads Presbyterian Church back in North Carolina, and remained close to his faith all his life. For the past twenty years, he’s been an active and devoted member of the Hurricane Hill Methodist Church in Ripley, where he sang in the choir and often played his guitar and sang at their parties and events. The little church sustained his faith and was also a great source of joy and laughter. The friendships he made there were a treasured blessing in his life.
Billy passed away peacefully in the Lauderdale Community Hospital on Sunday evening, October 6, surrounded by his family. He leaves behind his wife, Ann, and his daughter Jane Evelyn Ashe (Jim). He was predeceased by his sister Mary Jane Webb and leaves behind her daughters Camille Thornton (Steve) and Mary Elizabeth Schibler (Chuck), along with four great nephews. He also leaves nieces Carolyn Mitchell (Bobby), Patricia Kern (Bob), Kay Pike and their children and grandchildren. Last but definitely not least, he leaves behind a bevy of pets, cats and dogs who came into his life as strays but who loved and cherished him and will miss him just as much as we do.