Dayton Chronicle - Your Hometown News Source

Bessie M. Tate

September 15, 1936-January 1, 2023

Bessie M. Tate, 86, died January 1, 2023.

She graduated from Dayton High School and continued her education in the Tri-Cities and Spokane, completing her nursing degree. She enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in Viet Nam and at numerous bases stateside. She retired from the military at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

While deployed in the Far East, she remembered family by sending mementoes from the Orient.

-Submitted photo

Bessie M. Tate

Tate finished her nursing career at Lakeland Village, Medical Lake, Wash.

Her service in Viet Nam impacted her life in a negative manner, and she struggled with nightmares from that period of her life. Until then, only the men in her family went off to faraway places to fight in the trenches. She went there to fix them so they could come home.

Tate's nieces and nephews were her "children."

She is survived by her brother William and her sister Merrilee and many nieces and nephews.

A Memorial Service with honor guard is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, April 29 at 686 Preston Avenue, Waitsburg, Wash., to be followed by a time of fellowship at the Columbia County Senior Center in Dayton.