Matthew Tate
Memories of Dad (that I wasn't able to express during his service):
Sitting with him in his chair while we watched TV. Him coming into my room to tuck me in at night and spending a few minutes with me after being at work all day. He was usually happy to answer my questions about whatever I had to ask. Would always tell me what "so and so" said after he got off of the phone. He always loved Cinnamon and Butterscotch hard candy from Brach's. Always made Blackberry jam from berries he brought home in his Little Oscar Lunchbox, that he had picked on the job, probably somewhere along the "flowline." I remember him getting home late from work back when he was going to HVAC training at Tulsa Junior College. I remember the time he surprised us with a rabbit that he later took back to work after it started chewing on lamp cords. And the time he took us on a ride to pick out a puppy.
Trips to Sutherlands/Builders Square/Handy Dan's/Payless Cashways on a Saturday morning with 80's country on the truck radio in his '82 F150 and the same music playing in the store to grab some lumber or home improvement supplies, back when it was still real Country. I especially remember when Hank Jr's "There's a Tear in my beer," came on, we would always crank up the volume and sing along. Sometimes when we would get out driving, we would wind up over at Mamaw and Papaw's or Grandma Tate's or Grandma Spencer's house to visit. Then later on learning how to drive that truck, a stick shift, with him in the passenger seat out by Grandma Janice's. I went on to drive that truck to High School and then to college. I remember getting up early, before daylight, waving him off as he got in that truck to go to work, before the bottom fell out rupturing a disc in his lower back, while on the job torquing on a bolt with a big heavy wrench. During the summertime, he would stop and pick up Ice Cream Sandwiches or a carton of ice cream from Braum's on his way home from work. Always told us he had a surprise, when we ate our dinner. His beer of choice back then was always Busch, which he would also have after working all day. Also always kept a bottle of Peach Brandy on hand for when he was feeling under the weather. Always had a summertime garden growing tomatoes, okra, corn, cantaloupe, squash, and peppers to name a few.
Him watching This Old House with Bob Vila, every time it was on tv. He also liked New Yankee Workshop, and Oklahoma Gardening. His favorite cars were either a 70' Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454, or Buick GS.
Spending the day with him and Grandma Janice at her house, while Jer and I mowed her yard on her Cub Cadet and Snapper. He was usually off trimming bushes or trees, which usually resulted in a burn pile, that we enjoyed setting on fire later on. Since it was usually green wood, he would pour motor oil on it to get it to burn. Then eating Pizza Hut and drinking cold Cokes one after another, when the work was done.
Boy Scout campouts to John Zink Ranch, and Summer Camps at Camp Garland in Locust Grove and Camp Tom Hale in Talihina. Late at night he would sit up with the other parents shooting the breeze while us kids had gone to sleep in our tents.
Him building a second living room and a shed at the first house. I remember he poured the concrete slab, then added the roof, with attic space, and finally enclosing the walls, adding the electrical and air vents and it even had a closet. This was where we started putting the Christmas tree and a couch where we watched tv and relaxed at night.
Taught me how to change my own oil, how to cook a meal, clean house, do laundry, take care of a yard, how to garden, trim trees, brew a pitcher of sweet tea, or a whip up a batch of homebrew, how to stand up for myself and not back down, no matter what. Taught me all of the ancestral history and family lineage. Showed me how to be tough and handle tough situations, like burying a loved one, with class and dignity. (Somehow, I just never imagined he was also teaching me how to carry on without him around anymore.) Looking back, he left me with so many memories, and a wealth of knowledge to help carry on my own family for many more wonderful years to come, and I know he's still with us, and his memories will live on in the hearts and minds of the four granddaughters that he leaves behind.
