Shortly after Ben Pate graduated Dublin High School in 1970, he attended a community meeting in the old Texas Electric building (where the Wicked Clover tattoo studio is now) to discuss the possibility of Dublin opening a museum. The question had been raised by members of the Sunday school at the First Baptist Church, who felt that the town’s history needed to be preserved.
“We all raised our hands and said, ‘We want a museum,’” Pate said.
The next day, Pate left for college, so the actual starting of the museum fell to the other members of the community. Now, more than 50 years later, after a long career in Dallas, Pate has returned to Dublin and is the curator of the Dublin museum himself.
Pate is also active in the community in other ways, from working with the rotary club to participating in city planning committees. “When I was growing up, I thought Dublin was just the best little town, and there were so many good people here,” Pate said. “I had such good memories of it, and I felt like when I left, that I hadn’t finished. I wanted to come back and finish what I’d started.”
Pate graduated from Dublin High School in 1970, and went to Texas Wesleyan University and then on to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. After earning his bachelor’s degree he started working at Texas Wesleyan’s television center, which produced videos as teaching aids for professors.
“While I was there doing that work, the people at the college were encouraging me to continue my education… so I got a master’s degree in radio, TV, film,” he said.
Pate soon got a job at KXAS-TV Channel 5, and then later WFAA_TV in Dallas. He helped produce hundreds of newscasts, including coverage of the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco and the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing. He was also the director for a children’s show called Mr. Peppermint.
In 2015, Pate retired from his media career. “I had asked myself some time before, ‘What do you want to do with your life?’” he said. “At that time, I was past 60… I didn’t want to just sit and rot. I wanted to do something worthwhile with my time, because I think time on Earth is one of the greatest blessings we could ever be given — to actually be alive here. I ended up coming back to Dublin because I knew that there was a way that I could do something more than just sit on the outside.”
That same year, he started volunteering at the museum under Mary Yantis. When she passed away in 2020, operation of the museum fell to Pate. He works there nearly every day from 1-5pm. He’s happy to show visitors around, and loves helping people learn about their family history in the area. Pate is full of interesting stories about Dublin. From the history of the old grist mill, to the story of the rotary club handing out sugar cube polio vaccines, Pate’s knowledge and love for Dublin’s past are apparent.
Even before his career in TV news, Pate enjoyed photography and preserving images. “When I was a kid, I was the snotty nose kid in town with a camera around my neck, and so I would photograph things at school and in town,” he said.
Now, at the museum, he’s helping create a searchable archive of historical photos and documents. “What we want to do is assemble a file system and have family names in there, so when we want to find out about, you know, the Bishop family, or any other family here, we’ll have something that we can show families when they come in.”
Three years ago, the museum received a donation from the Rogers and the Edmonds families of a huge collection of early photographs, many made before the 1920s. Pate and the other volunteers purchased a scanner to digitize the photos.
“One of the scans was of the Gilbreath family — in 1910 or somewhere in there, they had a family photograph made,” Pate said. “When we put it on the scanner I had people say, ‘Oh my God, that just looks like it was shot yesterday.’ When you look at a negative, it’s actually silver metal attached to a glass plate. Well, if you take care of it, that silver is going to last a long time. And so these pictures that were made in 1915, 1917 — there’s no reason why they can’t look as good today as they did over 100 years ago.”
Pate feels that the work has brought him full circle in a way. “I’m really interested in doing all this, and that’s kind of been my connection: I was a kid with a camera when I was young, and now all those lessons that I learned about processing film, dealing with that kind of stuff — that’s what I’m using now at the museum.”
In addition to his work at the museum, Pate, a former city council member also serves on the city’s Economic Development Committee and the Planning and Zoning Committee. “The whole idea is making Dublin a nice town that people can appreciate and want to live in,” he said.
Pate also volunteers with the Rotary Club, helping out with food drives, the concession stand at the football field, and more. Being a part of community groups is fulfilling to Pate, who feels that it’s the best way to make change. “You can’t be the lone ranger and really get much done,” he said. “If you want to do something, it’s better to have a whole group of people who are all on the same page.”
How you can help
“We need volunteers at the museum who are willing to come in and keep the museum open,” Pate said. “We have a lot of things that need to happen there, but we can talk with people after they show up and find out what things they might like to do.” If you’re interested in volunteering, contact Ben Pate at 682-232-9805
The volunteer spotlight is a monthly column giving recognition to those in the Dublin community helping others. If you have any suggestions for someone to be included, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.