Boyce Denton Tate

Boyce D. Tate died at the age of 92 on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 while a resident at The Rutherford Assisted Living in Murfreesboro, TN. He is preceded in death by his wife of 70 years nee' Amelia Meador of Breckinridge County, and is survived  by their five children, Boyce Denton Tate II (Madisonville, KY), Stephen Roberts Tate (Murfreesboro, TN), Sara Tate Saxton (Murfreesboro, TN), Emily Tate Taylor (Colliersville, TN) and Amy Tate Williams (Nashville, TN), 13 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.

Boyce was the elder of two sons of the late Amel and Evelyn Tate of Hardinsburg and a graduate of Breckinridge County High School, Class of 1944. In 1946-47, Tate served in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers which included Foreign Service in WWII Occupational Forces in Japan and South Korea. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Western Kentucky University (1950) and a Master of Civil Engineering Degree from the University of Virginia (1962). He taught Industrial Arts & Junior High Science in Leitchfield, KY and Alleghany County, VA. He served in the Department of Engineering Mechanics & Graphics at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA (1954-1965), launched the Engineering Technology Programs and served as their Director and first Department Head at Western Kentucky University (1965-1989) and assumed the position of Department Head of the largest Civil Engineering Technology Department in the world at the Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, GA (now merged with Kennesaw State University) from 1989 until his retirement in 1995. Tate was a Licensed Professional Civil Engineer and Registerd Land Surveyor, as well as an accomplished wood-worker, sports enthusiast and choral singer. He was an active member of several Southern Baptist churches, most notably First Baptist Church in Bowling Green, KY, Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, GA and Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville, TN.

A public graveside service is scheduled at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Hardinsburg, KY on Saturday, August 22, 2020 at 12:00 noon central time. The family requests that expressions of remembrance be directed to The Boyce Tate Engineering Scholarship Fund at Western Kentucky University https://www.wku.edu/chf/

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