The Rev. Lee Albert Cate passed away on July 12, 2022, after turning 98 on Father’s Day, June 19. His obituary writer said it best: “It is so hard to describe the vastness of a 98-year lifetime.” His full obituary is here.
Lee Cate fought in World War II as a member of the U.S. Navy. After three years, he returned home to Knoxville in January 1946 and soon thereafter he married Mary “Frances” Smith Cate of Greeneville, a woman he had met at a church camp. She wrote (typed) a daily newsletter which she sent to several service men she knew. Lee was one of them. She always signed them “Keep Smiling and Praying.”
Lee and Frances were married May 30, 1946, and left for Ohio for him to attend seminary. They were married for 63 years until her death in November 2009. She had taught school in Knox County, and after both retired, they volunteered for many organizations. Lee was president of the Anderson County AARP for over 20 years. Both were involved with masonic organizations including Eastern Star.
Lee and Frances “merged” into the United Methodist denomination in the 1960s, having previously been members of the Evangelical United Brethern. He led the rebuilding of Bookwalter UMC after it burned only three days after the Cate family moved there is 1966. Knowing the merger was completing, Lee Cate ordered the cornerstone of “Bookwalter United Methodist Church” and thus it is the first United Methodist Church to be erected or dedicated in the world.
His is a remarkable story. A graveside service with military honors will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 16, at Sunset Cemetery in Clinton. The family will receive friends from 2-4 at Holley-Gamble Funeral Home, 621 S. Charles Seivers Blvd., Clinton.