Godfrey L. Tate Jr., 1919 – 2004

Godfrey L. Tate Jr. was born in 1919, the eldest child of Godfrey L. Tate Sr. and Carrie E. Tate of Staunton, Va. His father was an ordained minister of the Methodist Church who served churches in the Washington Annual Conference. His paternal grandfather, Stuart, as well as two of his father’s brothers, Coleman and Luther, served as local preachers in Staunton’s Augusta Street Methodist Church.

  Godfrey received his education for the ministry at two Methodist institutions of higher learning in Atlanta — Clark College (now Clark/Atlanta University) and Gammon Theological Seminary (now Interdenominational Seminary). While a graduate student, he taught classes at Clark in the Department of Religion and Philosophy.

  His service to the Methodist Church included several parishes in West Virginia and Virginia, where he was superintendent of the Ashland District and served on the administrative staff of the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church. He served as a delegate to several Jurisdictional and General conferences. The library of the Franconia United Methodist Church bears his name in remembrance of his pastoral service there.

  He is survived by his wife, Margo, and three brothers, Oliver and Samuel of Staunton, both lifetime members of Augusta Street United Methodist Church, and George, a retired clergy member of the Northern Illinois Conference, who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

  As we memorialize today our brothers and sisters who have completed their earthly journeys, may we follow them in the hope that we, too, may "lay down our burdens — down by the riverside, and study war no more."

— Dr. George A. Tate