Luther Lester TATE, Jr.

TATE, SUBJECT, ERICKSON, ANDERSON, EVANS, NELSON, COVINGTON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/7/2007 at 12:48:12

May 4, 2004

Luther Lester Tate, Jr., died on Saturday, April 24, 2004, at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Iowa City. Funeral services were held on Sunday, May 2, at the First Lutheran Church in Clarion, with Rev. Gary Boen officiating. Interment was in the Evergreen Cemetery, Clarion.

Luther was born on February 8, 1931, the son of Anna E. Subject and Luther L. Tate, Sr. Raised in Clarion, he often spent summers with his Uncle Virgil and Aunt Ruby Tate on their farm near Renwick. Luther attended the Clarion Pubic Schools and was a member of the track team. On July 26, 1949, he entered the United States Army and earned his high school diploma in the military. Luther served with the 16th Infantry Regiment and was honorably discharged as a Private First Class on November 15, 1952. In the mid 1950's he was married to Margaret Erickson. They had two children, Diane and Robert. In 1962 he married Leona Anderson. They had one child, Jeanette. Luther had several occupations, including truck driving, railroading, construction, and operating a feed mill. He retired in September of 1992 as a weather observer for Weather Data Services at the Mason City Airport. When Luther's health began to decline earlier this spring, he left his home in Meservey for the USA Health Care Center in Clarion. The staff and residents became his second family in the six short weeks he resided there.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Leona; father, Luther L. Tate, Sr.; mother, Anna Evans; and step-father, Ivan Evans. Survivors include his children; granddaughter, Heather Nelson of Roland; great-grandson, Gabriel Nelson of Roland; and sister, Shirley Covington of Goodell.

©Belmond Independent 2004