Joe Pate Norris November 22, 1944 - July 20, 2013

Joe Pate Norris, 68
Former Grant resident Joe Pate Norris, 68, died July 20, 2013, at the home of his sister, Joy Parker in Oklahoma City, OK.
A grave-side service will be held Thursday, July 25th at Grant Cemetery in Grant, OK at 4:00pm. Grant Cemetery is South of Hugo, OK on Highway 271, East on 2120 at Grant.
Mr. Norris was born November 22, 1944, in Grant, OK the youngest of six children to Jack R. and Lucille Belvin Norris.
He graduated from Hugo High School in 1963. He enjoyed drama, sports and track but noted "I did as little as possible."
He attended Oklahoma State University majoring in general agriculture. Mr. Norris joined the National Guard in college and became a weekend warrior. He was honorably discharged with an E6 rank as a sharp shooter. He was deployed in a few uprisings with prison riots in McAlister.
He was a 32nd degree Mason.
He worked for Henry and Joy Parker out of college and eventually opened Norris Safety Shoe Company in Oklahoma City. Mr. Norris eventually sold the shoe company and moved to Grand Lake where he worked as a spider exterminator and contracted power washing of boat docks.
Many people have spoken of how Joe was a good guy to talk to and was genuinely interested in how they were doing.
Joe Pate is survived by his sister, Joy Parker of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, another sister and brother-in-law Judy and Don Moffitt of Powderly, Texas, brother-in-law Bice McMurry of Grant, Oklahoma, and several nieces and nephews.
Mr. Norris was preceded in death by his father, Jack Norris, in 1979 and his mother, Lucille Norris, in 1993, a brother Jackie and his wife Peggy of Grant, Oklahoma, a sister Ann McMurry of Durant, and another sister RaeJean and her husband Harold of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Buchanan Funeral Home in Oklahoma City is making arrangements.
Pall Bearers for Mr. Norris are friends Alvie Nelson, Bruce Gooding, and Johnny Scott and nephews Mark McMurry, Richard Norris, and Don (Keith) Moffitt. The service will be officiated by Pastor Mark Hutchison of Powderly Methodist Church.