Archie Tate

Archie Richard Tate, husband, father, grandfather, poet, woodsman and a champion for students who needed one, died April 12. He was 75.

A memorial service will take place at 11 am on Saturday, April 16, 2022 at Hulke Family Funeral Home.  There will be no visitation on Saturday at the funeral home prior to the service. Friends and family are invited to gather at the Alano Club 12, 2926 Pomona Drive, Eau Claire, WI 54701 immediately following the service until 2 pm on Saturday. 

Archie was born to Archie and Lilliath (Peebles) Tate on Feb. 2, 1947, in Corry, Pennsylvania, and came to the upper Midwest to attend Carlton College in Northfield, Minnesota. There he played rugby and was still able to earn a political science degree. He spent time in Vista and was half of the locally noted guitar duo of Norman and Archie. He later met and married Cindy Emerson. They raised five children, spending some of the children’s early lives in a woodlands’ cabin he and a friend built. Archie and his current wife, Debbie Foss, later built a house with actual electricity and running water in the same woodlands in Eleva.

Archie made a living working on Mississippi River barges, logging with horses and raising the occasional goat. He later earned a degree in special education from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. As a teacher, Archie was a fierce protector of his reading and other challenged students in Mondovi, Eleva-Strum and Osseo schools.

Archie wrote poetry that spoke of woods, and horses, and dogs and old men and once was a regular reader of his work throughout the Eau Claire area. His poems and stories have appeared in several books, including two published along with the work of members of the Mondovi Writers Group.

His poetry and his love for his children and grandchildren were a few of the cracks in his famously gruff exterior that covered a too-tender heart.

Archie was a runner and a coach for girls and boys sports. His analysis of professional sports was, usually, spot on.

Archie celebrated 35 years of sobriety in March and wishes serenity and wisdom for the innumerable friends he met on that journey.

Archie is survived by his wife, Debbie of Eleva and his former wife, Cindy of Eau Claire. His five children and their families are: son Julian and his wife Jodi Emerson of Eau Claire and their daughters, Hayley of Madison and Emily of Eau Claire; son Chris Emerson and his companion Reiko Shinno of Eau Claire; daughter Maggie and her husband Wesley Faulkner of Eau Claire and their children, Oliver and Violet; son Huckleberry and his wife Laura of Shoreview, Minnesota, and their sons, Leo and Felix; and son Hickory of Eau Claire who, with Rebekah Ullwelling, is raising three children, Mavis, Malcolm and June.

He is also survived by four siblings, John of Corry, Pennsylvania, Katy of St. Cloud, Florida, and Debbie and Donna of Huntingburg, Indiana; his favorite horse, Moses; and two mutts, Mato and Rufus.

We all wish he was still with us.

Friends and family may offer condolences online at www.hulkefamilyfh.com.

Hulke Family Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 3209 Rudolph Road, Eau Claire, WI 54701 is assisting the family with the arrangements. 

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.