BROOKSVILLE — Maggie “Madea” Mae Tate, 83, died Dec. 13, 2025, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle. 

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, at St. Mark Church of Holiness in Macon, with Lawrence Tate officiating. Burial will follow Drake Hill United Methodist Church Cemetery. Visitation will be from 2-5 p.m. Friday, at Carter’s Funeral Services. Carter’s Funeral Services of Macon is in charge of arrangements. 

Mrs. Tate was born Aug. 10, 1942, in Brooksville, to the late Eddie Lee McLeod and Magnolia Williams Hopkins. She was a member of Drake Hill United Methodist Church. 

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Joe Willie Tate Sr.; daughter, Marilyn Dinkins; and brothers, Sylvester Williams, Sammy Williams, Robert Hopkins and George Hopkins. 

She is survived by her daughters, Josie Mae Carson and Carline Cothern, both of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Jancie Brown of Brooksville; sons, Joe Willie Tate Jr., Clarence Tate and Steven Tate, all of Brooksville, John Eddie Tate of Memphis, Tennessee, David Tate and Lawrence Tate, both of Columbus; sisters, Patricia Lamb of Shuqualak, Beauty Hunt of Macon, Dollie Williams of Chicago, Illinois, Mattie Hopkins of Macon and Carrie Morant of New York, New York; brothers, Joe Hopkins, Lester Hopkins, George Hopkins and Bobby Hopkins, all of Macon, John E. Beck of Gary, Indiana, Chester Hopkins of Hattiesburg, and Will Hopkins of Columbus; 35 grandchildren; and 50 great-grandchildren.