I am sorry I have not been around but it has been a really hard month for me. Then end of April I got a phone call telling me that my father was ill and not expected to make it threw the weekend. He passed away on May 4, 2009 in the morning. He was laid to rest next to his parents on May 7, 2009 He was 91 years old. So who was my dad? My sister said it best in the Obit she wrote for him.
Wadus B Tate, 91 passed away May 4, 2009 at Tri-City Retirement Center in Pasco, Washington. He was born December 2, 1917 in Bokchito, Oklahoma, where he lived until 1948, moving straight to Hover, WA from OK.
In 1949, when the town of Hover was closed down because of the dam, he moved his garage from Hover to Finley and remodeled it into a home where he raised his family. He continued to live in Finley for the next 60 years.
He worked at Hanford as a millwright, worked on the local dams, and Phillips Chemical, retiring from Kerley Chemical in 1982. Wadus served in WWII as a propeller mechanic in England.
Wadus was an active community member. He was a Mason, a Shriner, a Rainbow Dad, a past patron of Eastern Star, a member of the Methodist Church in Kennewick and, above everything, he was a Grange member.
Wadus was a beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother. He was the best "tinkerer" around; there wasn't anything that he couldn't fix or make. He was famous for his quilts, quilt racks, giant stuffed animals and all kinds of pretty little doo-dads.
Wadus was preceded in death by his parents, a sister and his son, Bradley. Wadus is survived by his wife Jettie, his children, Leota Fleig, PA; Lotus Minoski, PA; Leslie Tate, Snohomish, WA; and Terry Muse, NJ; his stepson, Lester Wilcox, Mt Lake Terrace, WA; his siblings, Geraldine Smith, George Tate, Joel Tate, Patricia McFarland, and Donis Lolkema; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to either, Hospice, 2108 West Entiat Ave., Kennewick, WA 99336 or Shriners Hospitals for Children, 1108 W. Riverside Ave., Spokane, WA 99201.
No man stands as tall as when he stoops to help a child. Wadus will be missed, but not forgotten.
I have someone making layouts for me with photos from the funeral. I just could not handle doing it myself.
