Lawrence Tatman

Lawrence Tatman (November 14, 1919 - October 27, 2014)  Send Flowers Send Sympathy Gifts Send Sympathy Card Sign Guest Book | Send Private Condolences Lawrence Tatman, 94 of Urbana died at 8:53 p.m. Monday, October 27, 2014 at Amber Glen, Urbana. Graveside services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 11, 2014 at the Shiloh Cemetery, Mahomet. Renner-Wikoff Chapel and Crematory, Urbana is in charge of arrangements. Lawrence was born November 14, 1919 in Seymour, a son of James and Maggie Johnson Tatman. He married Dorothy Mae Inskeep July 24, 1939 in Williamsport, Indiana. She preceded him in death, January 2008. He also has two surviving children, Judy (Jerry) Carlos of Port Isabel, Texas and Mary Rose (Michael) Middleton of Mercedes, Texas. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren; Debbie Larson of Northport, Florida, Crystal Merritt of Bourbonnais, Father Robert Tatman of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Linda Judd of Carmel, Indiana, Dan Tatman of Indianapolis, Indiana, Ron Bryant of St. Joseph, Kim Fleming of Arthur, Sue Sansone of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Matt Mabry of St. Joseph, and Tim Mabry of Champaign. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren. Lawrence was preceded in death by a daughter Linda, who died at birth in 1948 and in 1967, his son Robert L. Tatman was killed in the line of duty as a Champaign police officer. He suffered from the loss of his son until the day of his own death and felt especially honored that the police included him in the annual Law Enforcement Awareness Say each May. He lost his daughter, Becky Mabry, December 24, 2009. She was a features writer for the News-Gazette and author of “The Amish of Illinois’ Heartland”. Lawrence farmed for Arthur Burwash in Savoy until he took his family and moved to San Pedro, California in 1942. He worked as a shipyard/boilermaker building new ships for the war. They left California in 1943 and he went back to farming for Richard Burwash until 1952 when he moved his family to St. Joseph and farmed for Professor Bauer. He was also director of the Farm Bureau Board in the 50’s. In 1962 he worked nights at J.M. Jones and farmed during the day and in 1965 built a home in Urbana. While farming, working for J.M. Jones, building a house, he also found time to drive a school bus for the St. Joseph High School. In 1966 he worked for SuperValu driving a semi until he retired in 1984. He could never sit still so he raised bees from 1974 – 1996. He was a bee inspector for 14 years and was always on call when the Champaign Police called for him to remove swarms of bees around town. He also won First in State at the Illinois State Fair and First in white honey at the San Diego Beekeepers convention. Lawrence attended Savoy United Methodist Church, and later the Mayview Methodist Church where he was church superintendent for a number of years. Lawrence went back to school and became a master gardener. He helped people with gardening questions and his yard was always beautiful. Lawrence always made sure his family never went without and was never afraid of hard work. In his later years he went walking every day at the mall in Urbana and stayed in touch with his family on Facebook. He was proud of his family and loved to brag about each of them. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Urbana Free Library to go toward the purchase of large-type books. Condolences may be offered at www.rennerwikoffchapel.com