Katie Wingate

Katie Ruth Cunningham Wingate, 89, of Fort Worth went to meet her Lord on March 28, 2018. Graveside services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday, April 2, 2018, at Whitney Memorial Park in Whitney. A memorial service will be held at 4:00 p.m. Monday, April 2, in the Elizabeth Cramer Chapel at Arborlawn UMC at 5001 Briarhaven Road in Fort Worth, 76109.

Katie was born the 25th of May in 1928 in Hillsboro, Hill County, Texas, to parents, Lucy Caroline Jordan and Earl Rush Cunningham. She was the fifth child born to the couple with three more to follow, all residing at 312 Hedge Street in Hillsboro. Following her graduation from Hillsboro High School, Katie worked as a switchboard operator for Southwestern Bell Telephone. Through a friend there, she met and dated a young man, Robert N. Wingate, of Whitney, Texas. They became engaged and wed after his discharge from the US Army. They were married in Wichita Falls, June 27, 1953, with her sister and brother-in-law, Carol Erle and Wade Ashley as their witnesses. The newlyweds set up their new household in Fort Worth and began their family with the birth of Dianne in 1954, Robert, Jr. in 1955, Kay in 1957, Brenda in 1959, and then Keith in 1963. Katie loved raising her own little brood and being a homemaker, following her interests in cooking and sewing and loving to read books of all kinds as much as possible.

The couple moved to Forest Hill in southeast Tarrant County in 1963. It was a new house in a new neighborhood with infinite possibilities for new opportunities and friends. Having been raised in the Methodist Church and believing some sort of religious instruction would be a good foundation for their children, Robert and Katie became active in Forest Hill UMC, Katie watching the babies and toddlers during Sunday School and baking cookies, cakes and pies for fundraisers for the youth and the Lord’s Acre Sales. As if keeping up with five kids and a household wasn’t enough, Katie would also find time to go door to door in the neighborhood, asking for donations to benefit the March of Dimes. And to read a few more books!

Katie and Robert loved traveling and camping at many of the state parks in Texas, enjoying the fresh air, sunshine and local flora and fauna. They travelled out of state on occasion, taking in the sights of Colorado, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Returning to Texas was always coming home but they longed to return to Hill County, to a patch of earth where they could grow a big garden and raise a few animals. In 1983 they bought 15 acres in Blanton, Texas, with a mailing address of Blum. The garden was resplendent with produce, fruits and vegetables and flowers and Mustang grapes, so much so that Katie canned and preserved as fast as possible to keep up with the harvest. Robert built huge shelves made of heavy wood to house all the newly filled jars. Company could always select their dinner from those shelves. Our favorite of all was the jelly Katie made from local wild plums, Blum Plum, we called it. None finer could be had anywhere or since.

From their children, Katie and Robert had 13 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. While living in Blum they taught these precious kiddos much about living in the country, including planting and harvesting, feeding the cows and picking berries and the dangers of snakes. The older kids would get to run the tractor mower and haul the younger ones in the trailer behind it for a tour of the property. Robert and Katie had several dogs, both their own and “visitors,” those that just wandering by to stay a few days then to move on. Mother was not a big fan of the dogs but because having them around so pleased Daddy, she let them stay. Cats were frequent visitors as well, sometimes setting up their own household in the barn.

Katie continued her own hobbies, especially reading and also helped in the care of her own aging mother, Lucy Caroline, in Hillsboro. Due to concerns about their own declining health, Katie and Robert returned to Fort Worth in the year 2000 to be closer to the medical help they needed as they aged. Living a few houses down from their daughter, Brenda, made it easier on everyone for a while. Family gatherings were held at their new home at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter and any other time a brisket needed roasting! As the family grew, the venue was changed to Brenda’s house from which they could mosey on back to their house when they tired.

Over the years Katie suffered health issues that hampered her mobility. Katie underwent a knee replacement. Then had a cancerous kidney removed. Then had her gall bladder removed. Then had a stroke which, while seeming to leave her wits intact and her speech unaffected, left her left side partially paralyzed. Over time a mild dementia seemed to fall upon her. We weren’t really aware of it at first. We each noticed what seemed like age related forgetfulness, some “recycling” of conversations and her repetitive daily attention to her vast book collection. Daddy seemed worried about her but didn’t really complain. During this time Brenda and Scott moved to a new home just a couple of miles to the south of them. It was Brenda’s foresight that our parents would need daily assistance soon that prompted their move but Robert’s need developed more quickly that anticipated. In 2011, Daddy became ill with a malignant melanoma. Eventually he and Katie moved in with Brenda and Scott for the help they needed. It was amidst their loving care and hospice care that he spent his last days, passing away in July 2013.

For Katie, the move proved too much for her fragile state of mind. In spite of frequent visits to their home, none of us realized Katie suffered a memory disorder in a significant way. Daddy had done such a great job of taking care of her that we didn’t understand the magnitude of her memory problems until he was forced to step down. There was much we had not known about caring for a person with a memory deficit, including the importance of a consistent routine, which we had just obliterated. We did our best to educate ourselves about dementia and providing care for someone so afflicted but it became apparent that she would need care far beyond our abilities. Katie was assessed by their family doctor and after the family stumbled through a rough start at one memory care facility, she found a new home at James L. West Alzheimer’s Center in Fort Worth. She has received the best care available, being treated for normal physical ailments as well as for what was deemed a dementia of non-specific origins. It might have been vascular as a result of her stroke or from Alzheimer’s which hasn’t become entirely understood in its’ complexity. The truly compassionate care received by JLW was a godsend to our family.

A special thanks to the folks at James L. West Alzheimers Center in Fort Worth for the excellent and compassionate care given to our mother during her stay with them. We are extremely grateful for their expertise and assistance in her greatest time of need.

Katie is preceded in death by her husband, Robert N. Wingate, Sr. and by her siblings Bonnie Girault, George Cunningham, Carol Ashley, Elton Cunningham and her baby sister, Bobbie June Jones.

Katie is survived by her sisters, Mary Dorsey of River Oaks, TX and Martha Burrow of Premont, TX; her grown children and their spouses, Dianne and Craig Mays, Robert (Jr) and Mariana Wingate, Kay and Paul Sweeney, Brenda and Scott Shirley, and Keith and Stephanie Wingate; as well as by 13 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.

Graveside Service

Monday April 2, 2018 , 11:00 AM at Whitney Memorial Park

Memorial Service

Monday April 2, 2018 , 4:00 PM at Arborlawn UMC

in the Elizabeth Cramer Chapel