University of Georgia - Pandora Yearbook (Athens, GA)

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»tl ! DEAN WILLIAM TATE To Dean William Tate (always called Bill by his close friends and associates) there goes up on his retirement a uni- versal acclaim that is well deserved. He is unique in many respects, and as a whole it may well be said that there is and has been none other like him in the annals of the University. He is even tempered, always the same, never frustrated, never excited, always sociable. And always talkative, and generally with something to say well worth listening to. He was an excellent student in the University. In a class in Georgia History taught by this writer, Bill made the highest mark ever given in that class. He absorbed like a sponge Georgia history, and especially the history of the University. But Bill was not a grind or bookworm. History came easy to him as indeed did whatever the other courses had to offer. Thus, he had time to enter athletic activities and become a hard-to-beat cross-country runner. But in addition to being a staid historian, Bill is a folklorist of sorts. He knows many good stories, all respectable, and most of them were taken from factual backgrounds. He always liked his native haunts of Fairmount, in the northern part of the state, and on the slightest provocation he will talk for hours on what happened there, including a great deal about his Mama, who was a banker as well as a leader in other activities. 27 A. .

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Apart from Bill ' s love and affection for his family, the students of the University come first. His time is always at their disposal, in fair weather and foul. When any of them are in trouble, sick or in need of hospital care or in jail, Bill is at their side. At any time of the day or night, whether 9 p.m. or 3 a.m. he is as much to them as any father could be. And all of this is simply a part of the even tenor of his way. And in time past Bill ' s services have not stopped with his family or the University students. If the History or the English Department found itself overwhelmed with students and no- body to teach a class or two and no money to hire someone, Bill would volunteer his services free, gratis for nothing. It is understood that Bill, until his retirement, is still a member of the English Department, and was formerly an active teacher until he became Dean of Students. Being a fluent speaker and never hesitating for a word, Bill has made hundreds of speeches over the state and na- tion, and still has found time to administer to the students of the University and win their loyalty and respect as no other University official has ever done. And so probably no one will dispute the fact that Dean William Tate has made for himself a niche in the history of the University that none other has or will ever reach. E. M. Coulter, March 22, 1971.