Friends, family gather in memory of W.L. Pate, Jr.

Rain began to fall after the military honors ended, and a bugler sounded taps, the mournful camp call that “day is done.”

The idea of a day, as Pastor Randy Feldschau noted, ran through Pate’s life.

“He understood the value of a day and the difference it could make in another’s life,” said Feldschau, who also is a member of City Council and who recalled Pate’s positive outlook and encouragement.

“He practiced the lost art of mentoring, and he is still mentoring today,” Feldschau said. “He was always trying to make the other person feel better about themselves. He would challenge us — what are you doing to make this community a better place.”

An example of mentoring can be found in Damon West, who served a prison term and received a letter from Pate while he still incarcerated.

Pate lined up civic groups for West to address after his release, something he said helped keep him sober.

“W.L. was a servant leader,” West said. “He loved this city. It didn’t matter what you did in the past.”

Frank Messina knew Pate from Pate’s high school football days at French High School while Messina attended Kelly High School. He recalled a game Kelly played in Galveston. Trouble was brewing among the competing Catholic high teams. Messina said Pate and his teammates showed up in their orange French Buffalo shirts.

Messina said Pate and his friends cooled out the tension without having to say or do anything.

“It was an honor to call him my friend for 60 years,” Messina said. “Thank you for showing us what a selfless man looks like, what a public servant looks like. May we always remember this good man we were fortunate to know and love.”

Pate died Sunday after a brief illness as his family still was grieving the loss of Pate’s sister Pat, who died Christmas Eve.

Pate’s younger brother Robert spoke of the athletic prowess of his brother, who was older by five years, with the awe that only a little brother can show.

“We never fought each other, but we fought for each other,” Robert Pate told the assembly at One City Church. “I was the little brother, and I felt like I was in his shadow. But when I got older, I knew I was in his light.”

Will Leonard recounted the story about how his father, the late Bud Leonard and Pate’s father, W.L. Pate Sr., were founders of Lamar University’s Cardinal Club, which they established to support Lamar athletics. It was a love they passed to their sons, as well as creation of the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation, of which W.L. Pate Jr. was president.

Tim Kelso, Pate’s “nephew-in-law,” as he put it, said his “Uncle Bubba,” whom he later came to know as “Uncle W.L.,” said he wanted to take Kelso’s sons with him to Washington to receive a posthumous Medal of Freedom for Babe Zaharias.

“Of course,” Kelso said.

The presentation happened Jan. 6, the day of the insurrection at the Capitol.

Pate was delighted about the recognition for Babe Zaharias, whose memory he championed as the greatest woman athlete in the first half of the 20th century.

“He was a man of humility and respect, and he made you feel good about yourself,” Kelso said.

In the outdoors ceremony, the honor guard precisely folded the flag for presentation to the family.

Burial will be Wednesday at Houston National Cemetery.

Dan Wallach is a freelance writer.