On September 26th, 2021, I received the following email from Tracie Stewart, the niece of our RJR62 classmate, Judy Tate.
"Hi. I am the neice of Judith Tate and I'm letting you know that she (Judith) passed away Monday Sept 20 at Hospice. I'm going through her things and found "this' on her email." (the this, Tracie is referring to is the RJR obit of Bobby Craver) "There will be no service but there will be an obit later."
Tracee Tate Stewart
-Our deepest regrets and condolences go out to Judith's family from the RJR Class of 1962, and we pray that our friend will rest in peace.
-I will post more about Judith when I receive the obituary.
Danny T. Ferguson
ps - Tracie notified me in early October that the obit would be in the paper on Sunday, October 10th 2021. It is now attached below.
Judy was a good friend in high school and we were close for years afterward. She worked for R.J. Reynolds for over 30 years before retiring and owned several businesses of her own. She was a very talented artist and taught while doing her own painting. I commissioned a painting from her a few years ago and I enjoy having it on my wall where I can see it every day. It reminds me of her and her love of the ocean and beaches. After I graduated from RJR and moved to Washington, D.C. to go to college, we lost touch because she moved and I looked for her for years, attending every reunion hoping she would be there or someone would know where she was. It was only 40 years later when my brother died and his obituary appeared in the newspaper that she knew how to contact me. We talked frequently on the phone after that and spent some time together when I came home to attend an RJR reunion. Later, she flew to California to spend a week with me here on the coast. It was fun taking her to the galleries in Carmel, flying her down the coast in our Cessna, and showing her around. We had days to relive the past decades and catch up.
I cherish all my memories of Judy and the growing-up time we spent together. It was hard to be naughty in the early 1960's, but I remember one winter evening, we went out for a drive. I had bought some rum cured crooks - a stinky cigar and we sat in the car smoking the cigars for a lark. Later I went home and hung my coat in the closet. Next morning, when my mother opened the closet door, she wanted to know what boy I had been out with the night before. I assured her I had been out with Judy. I don't think it ever occurred to her I would smoke cigars. That ended my cigar episode.
We were scheduled to leave on vacation Sept. 14th, and I called her a couple of days before that to check in and see how she was doing. I knew she had lung cancer and with macular degeneration, it was hard for her to get around. She was very perky and we talked about old times and memories of funny things we had done. We laughed a lot. I learned the next week that she passed away on Sept. 20th. It certainly leaves a big hole in my life but I will treasure all the experiences we had together. Judy was a very interesting person - talented and energetic, funny, hard-working, creative and kind. She surely will be missed.
Below is the obituary from the WS Journal of 10/10/21:
Tate, Florence Judith (Judy)
January 21, 1944 - September 20, 2021
Florence Judith Tate passed away on September 20th at Hospice in Winston-Salem. She is preceded in death by her parents William Thurman Tate,Sr and Ollie Edith Hagans Tate and her brother William Thurman Tate, Jr. She is survived by a niece, Tracee Tate Stewart (James) of Lewisville and a Nephew, William Michael Tate (Christi) of Mississippi, as well as several cousins and very close friends. She graduated from R. J. Reynolds High School in 1962 and went to work in the research department of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for nearly 30 years, traveling on the East Coast with that team, as an Executive Seceretary. She also began her own business in the late 70's, opening a small shop at Reynolda Village selling herbs, and natural products. She loved to paint and was a very talented artist, teaching as well as creating. She gave exhibitions and her paintings were very popular. She continued to paint the rest of her life until macular degeneration proved too big a challenge for her to continue. She loved to read, enjoyed her cats through the years,and gardening. Judy loved the beach and spent lots of summers at Wrightsville Beach in her youth with family and as an adult visted the Outer Banks and Emerald Isle every summer that she could. She loved to fish and walk the beach to hunt for sea glass and shells.Judy will be greatly missed. She requested no service be held.
Danny T. Ferguson
On September 26th, 2021, I received the following email from Tracie Stewart, the niece of our RJR62 classmate, Judy Tate.
"Hi. I am the neice of Judith Tate and I'm letting you know that she (Judith) passed away Monday Sept 20 at Hospice. I'm going through her things and found "this' on her email." (the this, Tracie is referring to is the RJR obit of Bobby Craver) "There will be no service but there will be an obit later."
Tracee Tate Stewart
-Our deepest regrets and condolences go out to Judith's family from the RJR Class of 1962, and we pray that our friend will rest in peace.
-I will post more about Judith when I receive the obituary.
Danny T. Ferguson
ps - Tracie notified me in early October that the obit would be in the paper on Sunday, October 10th 2021. It is now attached below.
Dianne Church (Church)
Judy was a good friend in high school and we were close for years afterward. She worked for R.J. Reynolds for over 30 years before retiring and owned several businesses of her own. She was a very talented artist and taught while doing her own painting. I commissioned a painting from her a few years ago and I enjoy having it on my wall where I can see it every day. It reminds me of her and her love of the ocean and beaches. After I graduated from RJR and moved to Washington, D.C. to go to college, we lost touch because she moved and I looked for her for years, attending every reunion hoping she would be there or someone would know where she was. It was only 40 years later when my brother died and his obituary appeared in the newspaper that she knew how to contact me. We talked frequently on the phone after that and spent some time together when I came home to attend an RJR reunion. Later, she flew to California to spend a week with me here on the coast. It was fun taking her to the galleries in Carmel, flying her down the coast in our Cessna, and showing her around. We had days to relive the past decades and catch up.
I cherish all my memories of Judy and the growing-up time we spent together. It was hard to be naughty in the early 1960's, but I remember one winter evening, we went out for a drive. I had bought some rum cured crooks - a stinky cigar and we sat in the car smoking the cigars for a lark. Later I went home and hung my coat in the closet. Next morning, when my mother opened the closet door, she wanted to know what boy I had been out with the night before. I assured her I had been out with Judy. I don't think it ever occurred to her I would smoke cigars. That ended my cigar episode.
We were scheduled to leave on vacation Sept. 14th, and I called her a couple of days before that to check in and see how she was doing. I knew she had lung cancer and with macular degeneration, it was hard for her to get around. She was very perky and we talked about old times and memories of funny things we had done. We laughed a lot. I learned the next week that she passed away on Sept. 20th. It certainly leaves a big hole in my life but I will treasure all the experiences we had together. Judy was a very interesting person - talented and energetic, funny, hard-working, creative and kind. She surely will be missed.
Dianne Church (Church)
Danny T. Ferguson
Below is the obituary from the WS Journal of 10/10/21:
Tate, Florence Judith (Judy)
January 21, 1944 - September 20, 2021
Florence Judith Tate passed away on September 20th at Hospice in Winston-Salem. She is preceded in death by her parents William Thurman Tate,Sr and Ollie Edith Hagans Tate and her brother William Thurman Tate, Jr. She is survived by a niece, Tracee Tate Stewart (James) of Lewisville and a Nephew, William Michael Tate (Christi) of Mississippi, as well as several cousins and very close friends. She graduated from R. J. Reynolds High School in 1962 and went to work in the research department of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for nearly 30 years, traveling on the East Coast with that team, as an Executive Seceretary. She also began her own business in the late 70's, opening a small shop at Reynolda Village selling herbs, and natural products. She loved to paint and was a very talented artist, teaching as well as creating. She gave exhibitions and her paintings were very popular. She continued to paint the rest of her life until macular degeneration proved too big a challenge for her to continue. She loved to read, enjoyed her cats through the years,and gardening. Judy loved the beach and spent lots of summers at Wrightsville Beach in her youth with family and as an adult visted the Outer Banks and Emerald Isle every summer that she could. She loved to fish and walk the beach to hunt for sea glass and shells.Judy will be greatly missed. She requested no service be held.