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TATE, Walter Raymond Walter Tate passed away early on Tuesday, November 11th (Remembrance Day) at Victoria General Hospital. Walter was a devoted father, husband and brother, a skilled engineer, and was known throughout Victoria for his talent on the rugby field and cricket pitch. Walter was born Christmas Eve, 1932, in Cumbria, UK, and grew up in Harrington. As a young man, Walter played cricket and rugby, worked at the Workington steel mill, and attended trade school as a draftsman. Despite his deep love of Cumbria and the Lake District, he emigrated, along with his mother Florence, father Joseph, and brothers George, Reginald and John, to Winnipeg in 1951. Walter quickly began work at Manitoba Hydro and made many friends in Winnipeg, where he also sang in the Winnipeg Male Voice Choir. He moved to British Columbia in 1955, eventually settling in Victoria. Here, he resumed his great love affair with sports, playing for the Victoria and BC cricket teams, and playing rugby with the Oak Bay team. He was also active at the Racquet Club, where he played squash, racquetball and tennis, and taught his children to swim. Walter was very outgoing, and was very active in social circles throughout Victoria. He was also a vocational engineer who has contributed his design skill to many of the bridges and highways across British Columbia. Walter worked for twenty-seven years with the Ministry of Highways, and then moved on to work for private companies in the last two decades, where he found great companionship among his colleagues, and took joy and pride in his every day work. Walter met the love of his life, his wife Candace, in early 1975, through mutual friends. They were married the same year, and settled at Walter's home in south Oak Bay, where they remained for the rest of Walter's life. Walter deeply loved the natural beauty of Victoria, and remarked often that he thought Oak Bay was paradise. He enjoyed watching rugby and cricket in Windsor Park after he retired from the sports, and loved spending time looking out at the Straits from the Oak Bay shoreline. He instilled this love of Oak Bay in his children, along with his strong personal values of trust, honor and loyalty. Walter is survived by his devoted wife, Candace, his brothers, Reg and George (of Richmond) and John (of Sidney), his loving children, Andrew and Louise (of Vancouver), Monica (of Toronto) and Jillian (of Los Angeles), his grandson, Benjamin, and his loyal dog, Riley. Walter was a great positive influence on the lives of his family, and will be missed every day by those who loved him, although we know he is enjoying that "great rugby field in the sky" (as he used to say). There will be no formal service, as per Walter's request, and a private memorial will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity of your choice. 513006 Published in the Victoria Times-Colonist on 11/16/2008