Archibald Fugate

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Biography

My maternal Grandfather, Archibald B. Fugate was born in 1898, the third child and 2nd son of Jesse and Clara Fugate, in Ben Hur, Mariposa Co., Calif. He fought in several major battles in France, during WWI, and survived to come home and marry his young sweetheart Leona Neola St. Cyr (one of 17 children in a French-Canadian family!) Sadly, Leona was not raised with many morals, and certainly lacked any type of religious upbringing, while my Grandpa was a VERY devout Christian, and an ordained elder in his church. He had strict rules about how marriage should be ... and Leona disagreed. Their son, my Uncle Archie B. Fugate, Jr. was born April 1st, 1925, and while Grandpa would go off to work each day in the “family business” (Fugate Tent & Awning Co., in Fresno, CA — a business created by Arch’s father, Jesse), Leona would “occupy her time” with “extra-marital” pursuits. [Note: I met Leona only once, in 1996, at my Uncle Archie’s funeral in northern CA. She was a very sweet OLD lady by then, and very regretful of many of her life’s decisions. She had been married five times, and divorced 4 times. She gave me the indication that she felt somewhat trapped in her first marriage, by the strict religious rules to which she was so unaccustomed. So her marital unfaithfulness was born out of a desire to end the marriage.] When my Grandfather discovered Leona’s blatant unfaithfulness, he did something few men in the 1920’s attempted: he received official church sanction to divorce, retained his priesthood office in his church, and sort-of “kidnapped” his small child, so as to prevent him from being raised by a “wanton woman!” Leona didn’t fight this ... but instead, remained a good friend to her son, especially after he reached adulthood.

Grandpa now had a small toddler, and no wife to help raise him ... so he prayed mightily for the Lord to provide a wife and mother for his son. He discovered my Grandmother a few months later ... when he went to the office building where she worked in Chowchilla, CA. ... a building where the front window awnings had been burned in a fire, and needed replacing. He felt instantly that this smart young woman was to be his wife, and immediately began to pursue her romantically ... however, Grandma was not easily won over, and it took many visits, mostly on Sunday mornings when Grandpa would drive all the way from Fresno to Chowchilla (with a dear church friend and fellow Elder), to take Grandma to church in Fresno! He would preach to her the whole way, and then take her back home after church. At last, she was converted! They married after her baptism, in 1928, much to the dismay of her parents. The couple worked very hard in the family business, trying to make a go of it throughout the Great Depression ... helping others out as much as they possibly could. They were “dirt poor” but others were worse off, and Grandma and Grandma Fugate always seemed to have “enough and to spare” for those they loved, or had just met! They contracted for work with the U.S. Govt. in the Central Calif. Valley, making “mosquito-netting” tents, and large canvas tents, with which to house the Japanese concentration camp detainees. Then, they would “sneak in” small packages to the camp prisoners, full of small bars of soap, toothbrushes, toilet paper ... simple “niceties” to make the camp more tolerable for the prisoners, who were really fellow Californians! Three children were born to the Fugates, becoming younger half-siblings to Archie Jr. Joseph, born in 1929; Edward, born in 1932, and finally a sister, Grace born in 1936. (My mother.) By 1943, when my Mother was only 7 years old, Grandpa was diagnosed with a severe case of Parkinson’s disease, which worsened to the point where he could no longer work. His father Jesse had just passed away, so my Grandma managed the entire Tent and Awning Shop alone. Hard work, lifting huge, heavy bolts of canvas and sewing tents with the use of enormous industrial sewing-machines. Her arms would ache so badly after her 12-14 hour work-days, she couldn’t lift them. (And she barely weighed 100 lbs. during that time.) By the time my mother was in high school in the early 1950’s Grandpa was so ill she had to go to work to help provide money for his medicine. He was finally put into a nursing home where he continued to grow worse ... often not knowing family members, or lapsing into a comatose state. When he was lucid though, he was a wonderfully kind and compassionate minister, who never failed to offer prayers of healing for others.

Grandpa Fugate passed away on January 29, 1963, just 5 days before his 65th birthday ... and just 9 days after my 2nd birthday. I was his 6th grandchild, and I so wish I had memories of him ... but I don’t. He was a wonderful, family-oriented, deeply Christian man, and I’m assured he is with his Lord. He was very beloved, and I only heard GOOD about him, from everyone who knew him. Though he was in a wheelchair most of his adult life ... he “walked his talk.” ^[1]