Saturday, January 1, 2011
The year was 1965. The city was Cookeville, TN. The college was Tennessee Tech University. The location was the men's dorm, Matthews Hall. On the third floor. I had just checked in as a freshman and was told to go to the third floor of the men's dorm and select a room. I made my way up the stairs (no elevator). When I got to the top of the stairs, I approached the room directly across from the stairs. Two other freshman were already in the room talking. Because the dorms were crowded back then, and three students were to occupy a room, I asked the two fellow freshmen if the third spot in the room was taken. I was told to go on down the hall where there were totally vacant rooms available. That was my first encounter with D. C. Tongate. He was one of the two freshmen in that room. The other freshman was his soon to be long time roommate,Alan. During my time at Tennessee Tech, D.C. and I would cross paths, having some joint classes together (he was a Physics major, myself Electrical Engineering). In later years, we would both graduate and begin work at the Tennessee Valley Authority. That would make it around 1969-70. I would work in Chattanaooga, TN; D.C. would be in Knoxville. It would be 1980 before our paths would cross again at TVA. In Cleveland, TN upon the opening of a new TVA District Office. D.C. would be in the Commercial & Industrial group. I would be a District Engineer. Over the next six years or so in the Cleveland office, D.C. and I would get to know one another all over again. That district office then merged with another TVA office down the street and I was assigned to another TVA office at the Chickamauga service center. D.C. and others would later also move to the Chickamauga service center. Again as the years passed D.C. and I became acquainted even more. D.C. was always the one in the office who knew a little about some things and a lot about most everything else. He was very bright and knowledgeable and very willing to share his knowledge with anyone who needed help (and even some who didn't). He was very welcome at each power distributor's office and did much to advance TVA's reputation in the field of electrical power. I don't think I ever met anyone who didn't value D.C.'s knowledge and expertise. He was truly one of a kind. I was saddened when I first learned that D.C. had been diagnosed with cancer. I was even more saddened when I learned his condition had grown worse over the months and months of his treatments. It was especially painful to learn of his death. I had been out of touch with D.C. for over eight years. By then we were several hours from each other and many many miles apart distance-wise. I was in the Nashville area; D.C. was in the Chattanooga area. Its hard to accept his departure; especially by those who knew him well. To D.C.'s family and friends, I ask that you remember the good times you had with him. Before the cancer was found and its terrible effects began to take away D.C.'s physical strength and spirit. Remember the little things that will serve as a gentle reminder of D.C.'s past better times. Those things that were unique to him. How he overcame diversity and the permanent injury to his body from a motorcycle wreck in Hendersonville, TN. It was never used as an excuse by him to shy away from any task. His desire to always help others. His unique laugh. His unkempt hair. I'm sure you all have that special thing that will remind you of him in the days, weeks, months and even years to come. Cherish each and every memory of him. He was one of a kind. Nobody else like him. I know I'll always have memories that remind me of the times our paths crossed. Cancer may have taken his life, but not the memories of his friends.
