TATE, JOHN BIBB.
Memoir, 1921-1983.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 117

ACCESS: Unrestricted

REPRODUCTION: All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

COPYRIGHT: Information on copyright (literary rights) available from repository.

CITATION:  John Bibb Tate Memoir, MSS 117, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.

John Bibb Tate was a Methodist minister who served in the North Georgia Conference for approximately 41 years.  The son of a Methodist minister, he was one of four brothers. His older brothers Henry L. Tate and James E. Tate were both Methodist ministers. His younger brother was William Betts Tate.

Tate married Nettie Springfield Tate on July 18, 1929.  They had two sons, John B. Tate, Jr. (March 23, 1932) and Sidney Springfield Tate (July 22, 1935).  Nettie Tate died on October 22, 1962. He married Mrs. Johnny McGilvary of  Roanoke, Alabama, on September 20, 1963. John Tate was a graduate of Birmingham Southern College (1927) and the Candler School of Theology, Emory University (1929). He retired from the active pastorate in 1970 at the completion of 40 years as a Methodist minister.

This memoir covers the chronological period 1921 through1983 and focuses primarily on John Bibb Tate's ministry in the North Georgia Conference.  Some of the more prominent appointments discussed in the memoir are his appointments as Wesley Foundation Director at the University of Georgia (1931-36) and as pastor of First Methodist of College Park (1940-44), First Methodist of Marietta (1944-48), Methodist of LaGrange (1948-53), and St. Mark Methodist, Atlanta (1953-57).  He also relates his experiences as District Superintendent of the LaGrange District (1960-1966), his joint appointment as pastor of Allen Memorial Church and Director of Religious Life on the campus of Oxford College of Emory University, and his time as interim District Superintendent of the LaGrange district in 1977.