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Eugene J. Tye (Tye) Services: Friday, May 27, 10 a.m. Memorial services will be held Friday, May 27, at 10:00 a.m., at Hillcrest Memorial Park & Mortuary. A private internment with the immediate family will follow.
'Tye,' as he was known by most, was born on June 17, 1921 in Gatesville Bottoms, Oklahoma to John (JP) Pierson and Juanita Tye. He grew up an adventurous farm boy and attended school in the Choska Bottoms area near the Arkansas River, where he loved to hunt and fish. His family eventually settled in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Like many young men and women who grew up in the depression and came to be known as the countrys greatest generation, Tye heeded the call to duty and joined the U.S. Army to serve his country on May 8, 1940. Demonstrating the hunting skills he honed on the farm, he qualified as an expert rifleman, and later served as a cannoneer with the 743rd Field Artillery Battalion. Tye participated in the Normandy Invasion, landing on Omaha Beach, and also fought in major battle campaigns in Northern France, Central Europe, and the Rhineland. He was honorably discharged from the Army at the end of WW II, on October 14, 1945, having served his country for nearly five years. True to his humble and quiet nature, he never spoke much about the war.
After his discharged from the Army, Tye decided to follow the lure of adventure and emigrate to Australia which was offering land and much promise to young men just back from the war. On his way there, he stopped over with a relative in Bakersfield, met and fell in love with his wife, Millie, and never left. They raised a loving family.
No stranger to hard work, Tye joined Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) as a general laborer in the Gas Department in July, 1947, and retired from the company in June, 1983. Over the span of his thirty-six year career at PG&E, he worked his way up the ranks and finished his career as PG&Es first ever Corrosion Control Engineer in the San Joaquin Valley Region. During his earlier PG&E years, Tye, who was a natural athlete, was a power-hitting outfielder, pitcher, and third baseman for the companys local Power Club baseball team.
Tye loved country music, coffee, and the hummingbirds that visited him daily on his back porch. He was also a consummate fisherman and poker player, and was lucky at both. Tye enjoyed the simple pleasures of life, and his family and many friends enjoyed the dry, home spun humor and country clich's for which he was famous. The universally shared remembrance of Tye is that he was a good man.
Tye, a patient and loving family man, was eighty-three years old when he passed on... he lived a long and happy life. Tye was preceded in death by his parents, JP and Juanita Tye of Muskogee, Oklahoma; brother, Harold of Tulsa, Oklahoma; and son, Stephen Santibanez of Bakersfield. He is survived by his wife, Millie Tye of Bakersfield; daughter and son-in-law, Cecelia and Felix Bermudez of Garden Grove, California; sons and daughters-in-law, Michael and Sharon Tye of Martinez, California; Gene and Diane Tye of Glastonbury, Connecticut; Ken and Shelley Tye of Fallon, Nevada; daughter and son-in-law Helen and Rick Gatson of Bakersfield. Also, his grandchildren, who called him Papa: Jennifer Champ and her husband, Oren; Sarah and Heather Gatson, Katie, JP, Evan, Lindsey, Jesse and Amanda Tye; Stephen Bermudez and wife, Debbie, James Bermudez and wife, Stephanie, Lisa Grub and husband John, Angela Lira and husband, Robert, and nine great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his brothers, J.R. Tye and Jerry Tye of Muskogee, Oklahoma; sisters, Anne Roe of Muskogee, and Norma Joe Cutler of Arlington, Texas, and Helen Burns of Hartsville, South Carolina.
A heart-felt 'thank you' goes to Dr. Mukhopadhyay, Dr. Kim, June, and the staff at The Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center of Bakersfield (CBCC); Dr. Ashraf, and Adrienne at Optimal Hospice, and to the familys many friends for their care, compassion, and support during Tyes illness.
Donations may be made in the memory of Eugene J. Tye to CBCCs Foundation for Wellness care of The Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center, whose staff fondly remembers Tye.
Tye was able to live in his own home until his quiet, peaceful death, a wish that was made possible by the loving care of his family, especially his daughter, Helen. May He Rest In Peace
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