cooper4205
Oct-18-2007, 7:24pm
I found out today that Clarence 'Tater' Tate, fiddle and bass player for Bill Monroe and others, passed away after a battle with cancer. I got to know him through the ETSU bluegrass program where he taught and really thought the world of him. He was such a nice guy and real down to earth. He will be missed. Here is the obituary that will run in the Kingsport Times-News.
JONESBOROUGH — Clarence “Tater” Tate, 76, Jonesborough, passed away Wednesday (Oct. 17, 2007) at his residence.
Mr. Tate was born and raised in Yuma, Va. and attended Cleveland High School. He was the son of the late Anderson Jackson and Augustine Elizabeth Winegar Tate. In addition to his parents, Mr. Tate was also preceded in death by three sisters, Mary Belle Mullins, Thelma Augustine Howell; an infant; five brothers, Auburn J. Tate, Reuben S. Tate, William E. Tate, Henry L. Tate and James Massie Tate.
He was of the Baptist faith.
Mr. Tate played Bluegrass music on the fiddle and bass with Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Wilma Lee Cooper and Red Smiley. After retiring from the Grand Ole Opry, he and his wife moved from Nashville to Jonesborough. He taught in the Bluegrass Department at ETSU.
He was a U.S. Marine and served in Panama.
Survivors include his wife, Lois Starnes Tate, Jonesborough; one daughter and son-in-law, Millie and Ronnie Green, Jonesborough; two sons and daughter-in-law, Eddie and Joana Harold, Olympia, Wash., and Frank “Humpy” Harold, Nashville; one brother and sister-in-law, Lloyd H. and Jamie Tate, Weber City, Va.; five grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
The family will receive friends from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Dillow-Taylor Funeral Home, Jonesborough, prior to the service and other times at the home of the daughter, 4193 Cherokee Road, Jonesborough.
Services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday in the funeral home chapel with the Rev. Jamie Ferguson officiating.
Interment will follow in Roselawn Memory Gardens.
Pallbearers will be friends and family.
Condolences may be sent to the Tate family online at www.dillow-taylor.com.
Dillow-Taylor Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Jonesborough is in charge of arrangements.
JONESBOROUGH — Clarence “Tater” Tate, 76, Jonesborough, passed away Wednesday (Oct. 17, 2007) at his residence.
Mr. Tate was born and raised in Yuma, Va. and attended Cleveland High School. He was the son of the late Anderson Jackson and Augustine Elizabeth Winegar Tate. In addition to his parents, Mr. Tate was also preceded in death by three sisters, Mary Belle Mullins, Thelma Augustine Howell; an infant; five brothers, Auburn J. Tate, Reuben S. Tate, William E. Tate, Henry L. Tate and James Massie Tate.
He was of the Baptist faith.
Mr. Tate played Bluegrass music on the fiddle and bass with Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Wilma Lee Cooper and Red Smiley. After retiring from the Grand Ole Opry, he and his wife moved from Nashville to Jonesborough. He taught in the Bluegrass Department at ETSU.
He was a U.S. Marine and served in Panama.
Survivors include his wife, Lois Starnes Tate, Jonesborough; one daughter and son-in-law, Millie and Ronnie Green, Jonesborough; two sons and daughter-in-law, Eddie and Joana Harold, Olympia, Wash., and Frank “Humpy” Harold, Nashville; one brother and sister-in-law, Lloyd H. and Jamie Tate, Weber City, Va.; five grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
The family will receive friends from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Dillow-Taylor Funeral Home, Jonesborough, prior to the service and other times at the home of the daughter, 4193 Cherokee Road, Jonesborough.
Services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday in the funeral home chapel with the Rev. Jamie Ferguson officiating.
Interment will follow in Roselawn Memory Gardens.
Pallbearers will be friends and family.
Condolences may be sent to the Tate family online at www.dillow-taylor.com.
Dillow-Taylor Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Jonesborough is in charge of arrangements.