Herbert William Pate

ATLANTIC BEACH - Herbert William Pate of 123 Pond Drive in Atlantic Beach, N.C. was born on June 28, 1920, and died May 16, 2012. A funeral service will be held 2 p.m. Saturday at Open Door Baptist Church with the Rev. Jerry Linebarger and the Rev. Robert B. Pate officiating. Interment will be at 5 p.m. at Pinelawn Memorial Park. He was the son of Della Langston and Bernice M. Pate. His boyhood years were spent in the Institute Community (Wheat Swamp) area of Lenoir County. He has resided in Atlantic Beach since 1990. Herbert graduated in 1937 from Wheat Swamp, now North Lenoir High School. He owned and operated Pate's Fine Furniture for 58 years located in downtown Kinston. He served his country in the U.S. Army in 1942 in field artillery, 2 1/2 years in the United States and 1 1/2 years in the European theater of war. After returning home in 1946, he responded to a lifelong ambition playing professional baseball with the Coastal Plain League team Kinston Eagles for two years. He later attended Rappert School of Auctioneering in Decatur, Indiana. This training led to professional auctioneering in auto auctions, estate auctions, and general auctioneering which most recently included Johnson Realtors and Auctioneers of Angier, N.C. over a period of 60 years. Herbert has been active in church life for many years; as an active member and Elder of Gordon Street Christian Church of Kinston and as an Elder at Open Door Baptist Church of Morehead City, N.C. He has remained an active member of Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship, an interdenominational fellowship of Christian laymen established in 1952. Herbert was a leader in the organization serving as a leader and National Director of N.C. Herbert is survived by his wife and best friend of over 41 years, Jeanette Worthington Pate of the home; two daughters, Judith D. Kitts of Memphis, Tenn., and Sarah Elizabeth Jones of Wilmington, N.C.; two sons, Herbert William Pate Jr., of Tampa, Fla., and Douglas Turner Pate of Boiling Springs, N.C.: one step-daughter, Connie Nobles Mintz and husband Rudolph Ivey Mintz Jr. M.D., of Kinston, N.C. He is also survived by three grandchildren, Angela Pate, Lesley Kitts, and Logan Pate; two step-grandchildren, Stuart Mintz Cherry and Rudolph Ivey Mintz III; and three great-grandchildren. Visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m. Friday at Munden Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the Morehead Chapter of Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship in America PO Box 2386, Morehead City, NC 28557, or Open Door Baptist Church 227 NC Hwy 24, Morehead City, NC 28557. Online condolences may be made to the family at mundenfuneralhome.net. Arrangements by Munden Funeral Home and Crematory Inc. of Morehead City. Sign the guest book at kinston.com. (Paid obituary)