Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Former Mayor Dies

Former Prescott Mayor Joe Tate McGill died Dec. 28, 1995, at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock.

The one-term mayor did what he could to help the City of Prescott move forward, according to current Mayor Howard Taylor.

Taylor was the City Clerk during McGill's term. He called the late mayor dedicated and energetic. "He did a lot for the city," Taylor said.

"He had some good ideas for Prescott and wanted the city to grow -- especially the downtown part."

According to Taylor, McGill returned to Prescott after having been gone several years. Once McGill retired from Georgia Pacific, he and his wife came back, and he ran successfully for mayor.

Taylor said McGill tried to clean Prescott up and did some good things for the city in his lone term.

McGill, born Dec. 21, 1923, in Jonesboro, graduated from Prescott High in 1941.

After high school, McGill joined the service and served in World War II, surviving Pearl Harbor.

He graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with a degree in mechanical engineering, and later graduated from the School of Mortuary Science in St. Louis, Mo.

His father, Joe Tate, Sr., was coach of the Prescott football team in 1922, when the team played the Little Rock Tigers with only 11 members on the squad.

This was the game Prescott won and was dubbed the Curley Wolves. Originally, the team was called McGill's Curley Wolves, but was later changes.

McGill was unsuccessful in his bid for a second term as mayor, as he was unseated by James Johnson.