101 - Juanita J. (Keel) Tate - Keel Cemetery - Marshall County, OK
N 34° 01.992 W 096° 54.440
14S E 693193 N 3767812
Juanita Jeanette Tate was born into the Keel family in 1910, but she also has a serious pedigree from key figures in the Chickasaw Nation. She is buried with her husband at Keel Cemetery, north of Lebanon, OK.
Waymark Code: WM12FDV
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 05/15/2020
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Mrs. Tate's father was Guy Keel, a full-blooded Chickasaw who married Lula Potts, and both were listed on the Dawes Rolls as members of the Chickasaw Nation. She was one of twelve children, dubbed by her father as "Foshi'" -- "bird" in the Chickasaw language -- and two of the schools she attended, Bloomfield Academy (Ardmore) and Chilocco School (northeast Oklahoma) were historic centers for education. She had a background in business through her college education, and she married Mr. Tate in 1934. They had four children together. Career-wise, she worked as a court reporter and a legal secretary as well as being a homemaker.
She was active in Chickasaw affairs, holding offices in the Chickasaw-Choctaw Confederation, the Atoka Treaty Rights Association, the Tifahaya Inter-tribal Club, as well as the Ohoyohoma Club. For her work in strengthening and preserving the Chickasaw Nation, she was inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame (who have a nice video about her) in 2008. She literally wrote the book -- at age 97! -- about her great-grandfather, Edmund Pickens, who was the first elected Chickasaw chief in Indian Territory. Another famous name in her lineage is that of her great-great grandfather, Cyrus Harris, who was the first Governor of the Chickasaw Nation. She was also an artist, a historian, and a genealogist, and she was a leader in establishing the Keel Cemetery Association in 1956.
Mr. and Mrs. Tate share a modern, gray granite headstone, with the family name, "Tate", in the center, below a vase. There are roses in the upper corners, and on their respective sides on the reverse are the family names "Tate" and "Keel". Their personal dates read:
Juanita J. (Keel)
Sept. 10, 1910
Feb. 8, 2012
Ernest William
Nov. 18, 1898
Dec. 9, 1981