Wilton "Tut" Tawwater (Plainview)

Wilton “Tut” Tawwater, 91, passed away on January 31, 2015 at his home. Memorial services for longtime community leader Tut Tawwater, 91, will be at10:30 A.M. Tuesday February 3, 2015 at First United Methodist Church in Plainview, Texas with Rev. Jeff Taylor, pastor, and longtime friend Danny Andrews officiating. The family will be having a visitation in the church parlor after the service. Cremation services are under the care of Kornerstone Funeral Directors of Plainview, Texas. Wilton Lewis Tawwater was born June 18, 1923, in Quanah, the son of S.N. and Minnie Zee Tawwater. Because King Tutankhamen’s tomb had been discovered several months before in Egypt and was still much in the news, his father dubbed the newborn “Tut.” He graduated from Quanah High School, where he played tennis, in 1941 and married Dorothy Hendrix of Quanah on Oct. 17, 1943, in Quanah while on furlough from the Air Force. A B-24 radio operator for two years, Mr. Tawwater was a Prisoner of War in Germany for 11 months. He joined the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad as a telegrapher operator after the war and moved to Plainview in 1948. He went to work as an advertising salesman and sports broadcaster for KVOP Radio in 1954 and later was part-owner of the station. He was the Voice of the Bulldogs, doing Plainview High football games for 36 seasons. The home broadcast booth at the stadium is named in his honor. In addition to doing PHS basketball and baseball games through the years, he also broadcast Plainview Ponies baseball, “re-creating” away games by reading play-by-play from the Western Union wire. He played a leading role in many community fund drives, including the effort for a new YMCA and the Plainview United Fund, forerunner of today’s local United Way. He was the third recipient of Man of the Year honors by the Chamber of Commerce in 1958 and was named to the Plainview Circle of Honor in Running Water Draw Regional Park in 2008. As Chamber president, he led a committee to change Plainview’s city government from a mayor-council to a city manager-council structure and served on the commission that re-drew the city charter. He served on the Chamber Sports Committee for many years that was instrumental in starting the Plainview Queens Classic Tournament and the Lions Pioneer Classic for college and high school teams. He served for 11 years as chairman of the Chamber’s Convention and Tourism Committee and for six years as chairman of the City Parks and Recreation Committee, which sponsored a successful parks bond and built new parks, including Running Water Regional Park. He was on the committee that re-established the YMCA program here and was part of a group that helped promote Plainview’s membership in the newly-formed Canadian River Municipal Water Authority. Much sought after as a toastmaster and emcee, Tut was president of the Plainview Toastmasters’ Club, lieutenant governor of the Toastmasters’ West Texas District, and winner of speech competitions at the local, district, and state levels. He helped found the High Plains Cotton Festival and directed the Miss High Plains contest. A past Lions District 2-T2 Governor and past president of the Plainview Lions Club, he had 60 years of perfect attendance. For many years he edited the club’s weekly newsletter. He was chairman of its Queens contest for 30 years and was Mr. Interlocutor for the Lions Minstrel Show and very involved in the annual Lions Pancake Supper. He also held various offices at the district level and was chairman of the Texas Council of Governors, the highest position in Texas Lionism. He is a member of the Texas Lions Hall of Fame. He taught the Wesley Sunday School Class of First United Methodist Church for more than 40 years, and also served as chairman of the church board and chairman of the Council on Ministries. He received the Silver Beaver Award from the South Plains Council of Boy Scouts. He coached Little League and Babe Ruth baseball for many years and was coach of numerous all-star teams. He previously served as treasurer of Hale County Meals on Wheels and also edited a newsletter for the Hub of the Plains Ex-Prisoner of War Chapter. He is survived by his wife Dorothy Tawwater of Plainview, Texas; two sons, Chris and wife Betty of Waco, Texas and Chuck of Miami, Florida; a brother, S.N. Tawwater of Midwest City, Okla. and a sister, Betty Ellis of Quanah, and two grandsons, Colin and wife Sarah of Amarillo and Chris of Abilene. He is preceded in death by his parents, brothers Woodrow and Bill Tawwater, and two sisters, Wilma Swindell and Wana Richardson. The family suggests memorials to the Plainview Lions Club, the Happy Feet program of the Plainview Soroptomist Club or a charity of choice. The family will be having a visitation in the church parlor after the service.