Andrew Lidden Pate III, 48, of Watkinsville, died Wednesday, Dec. 24. He was born Dec. 27, 1959 in Augusta, GA to the Reverend Dr. Andrew Lidden Pate, Jr. and Martha Brown Lokey Pate.
Mr. Pate was a graduate of Newton County High School in 1978 in Covington, where he was a tennis player, member of the soccer team, and the Star Student of his senior class, which he served as co-president. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1982 where, after a year of tennis, Mr. Pate turned to squash and played on the varsity team for the remainder of his collegiate experience.
Upon graduating from the Academy, where he majored in political science and engineering, Mr. Pate completed the Naval Supply School in Athens, GA, and served as supply officer aboard a Navy frigate that cruised the Pacific from out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, until he was reassigned to land duty in Washington D.C., where he met and married Victoria "Vicki" Newnan.
After closing out his service career, Mr. Pate and his wife settled in Smyrna, GA, where Mr. Pate worked for American President Lines. They then moved to Athens and opened Pates' Ace Hardware store. In recent years, Mr. Pate had been a business consultant, mostly for firms in the aviation industry.
During his years in Athens and Watkinsville, Mr. Pate continued his tennis and played in several local tournaments. He was an active parent-supporter of Athens Academy, where his children, William "Billy" N. Pate is a junior, and Alexandra "Alex" Lokey Pate is a freshman. In addition, Mr. Pate was an avid supporter of school and local soccer programs.
His family and friends knew Mr. Pate as an extremely likeable man who had an easygoing nature built around a solid character of loyalty and trustworthiness. He loved life and engaged himself fully in it.
In the Naval Academy yearbook of 1982, a classmate said of Mr. Pate: "This gentleman is someone who has all our respect and who is a friend to all. His personality has added something to all of our lives and will continue to add to every one that comes to meet him." And so he did.
Severe bouts with multiple sclerosis in the summer and early fall of 2008 left Mr. Pate physically weakened, yet his spirit remained optimistic and hopeful until he suffered a pulmonary embolism and answered his "last call" on the morning of Christmas Eve.
Mr. Pate is preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, Leonard and Martha Lokey of Thomson, GA; paternal grandparents, Andrew and Gale Marie Carpenter Pate of Refugio, TX; and by an uncle, Leonard Lokey, Jr. of Griffin, GA.
Mr. Pate is survived by his wife Vicki Pate of Watkinsville, children Billy and Alex Pate; mother Martha Lokey Lovett and husband Linton of Covington; father, Andrew Lidden Pate Jr and wife Carol, of College Station and Orange, TX, where his father is senior minister of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); twin sisters, Gale Marie Pate of Smyrna and Martha Lokey Mooney and husband, Andrew, and their sons Brett Knight and Drew Mooney of Acworth, GA;' as well as numerous Pate and Lokey relatives.
The memorial service for Mr. Pate will be held today, Dec. 28 at 4 p.m. in the Oconee Chapel of Lord and Stephens Funeral Home, 2370 Highway 53, Watkinsville, GA 30677. The Reverend Royeese Stowe, pastor of Chamblee First United Methodist Church, will officiate.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be given to the needy, or to a church, a favorite charity, or the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The Covington News Dec. 28, 2008
