ROCKWALL, TX (June 22, 2026) —I remember the first time I met Claudette Hatfield. I was hoping to get Tate Farms a spot in the Rockwall Farmers Market and I had been told “all things must go through Claudette.”
Once I got in contact with her, I shared Tate Farms history in Rockwall, how we were established in 1962 and were one of the last working farms in the county selling beef. You would think it would be a shoe-in, but no ma’am. Claudette wanted to bring the committee to the farm and try the food. She asked that I set up a time for her and the other ladies to come out, get a tour and taste the offerings.
I was nervous. This was a big deal!
They came to the farm on March 12, 2020. We toured the farm, tasted the honey, ate some beef sticks, and talked about our love for the community and Rockwall County. I was approved for the Rockwall Farmers Market! Yippee!
But what we didn’t know is that all of our lives would be changed in just a few days. The COVID virus hit and our idea of community would shift in ways none of us would imagine.
As I sat and reflected on my relationship with Claudette, I knew her for the last 6.9% of her life… I did the math. In that 6.9%, we got to know each other well. We navigated the Farmers Market through a worldwide shutdown together; I was invited to speak at her Red Hat Club; she hosted numerous events at the farm; she got me “the in” with Friends of the Library; I began hosting one of her favorite clubs, The Rockwall Literary Club; and in a very sweet and vulnerable moment, she invited me into her home to cater her friends and family after the loss of her daughter, Susan.
Other ladies in the various clubs would ask me to cater an event for them and I would always answer, “I’m so sorry, I only cater for Claudette.” In only knowing her for 6.9% of her life we had established a mutual respect for each other. I saw how hard she worked on the Rockwall Farmers Market, with her joke always being, “Good thing they pay me alot” and she saw how hard I worked to expand the brand of Tate Farms. And in that we knew we wanted to work together in any way we could.
I learned so much more about Claudette through her obituary. Entire seasons of her life I knew nothing about. She was a stewardess with American Airlines, an accomplished sailor, a long-time philanthropist having established a charitable foundation in 1997 and a strong force within her husband’s company.
It also talked about the things I had known. How she was a wonderful sister, wife, mother and grandmother. How she was the heart of the family. She established traditions that will be passed on for years.
I wish I had known her longer but I will cherish the 6.9% of her life that I knew her. In the days after Claudette’s passing, I was asked to cater the memorial service following her funeral. One more opportunity to say “yes” to Claudette. As I was thinking about the menu, I went back to our conversations of what she wanted served at Susan’s memorial. These were things I knew Claudette herself loved and found appropriate for the setting. I also went back to her obituary and a certain reference to her “famous cheeseball.”
Through a chain of phone calls from one friend to another and then to her sister, I got the cheeseball recipe! The memorial spread was beautiful. It included items she had chosen for Susan, strawberry shortcake cups, veggie and hummus cups, and cookies. Items I knew she loved, my chicken salad croissants, the pimiento cheese on raisin bread her good friend, Jolene, turned me onto and the little macarons she always loved when I hosted her afternoon teas. And the cheeseball.
As the guests were entering her funeral I had stopped to talk with one of her family members. I was excited to tell her I had made the cheeseball. When I went through the recipe with her she said… “parsley,” there is parsley on the outside with the pecans. I rushed back to the kitchen where my friend was helping me and told her about the parsley. In a random turn of events, she had brought a little baggie of fresh parsley “just in case.” The parsley was added. The spread was perfect. It reflected the beauty, grace, richness and abundance of Claudette’s life. A life well lived and not to be forgotten.
Claudette’s Cheeseball
Ingredients:
1 8oz block of cream cheese, softened
“Some” Shredded Cheddar Cheese, I used 2 cups of finely, freshly shredded cheddar cheese
½ packet dry ranch dressing powder
Splash of Worcestershire sauce
Chopped pecans
Chopped parsley
Directions:
In a bowl, mix cream cheese, cheddar cheese, ranch seasoning and Worcestershire sauce.
Form into a ball and roll in pecans, then parsley.
Serve immediately or wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate until serving.
Serve with Wheat Thins (per Claudette’s recipe).
By Blue Ribbon News food writer Melissa Tate, Tate Farms.
Cooking with Ease by Melissa Tate: One More Yes to Claudette added by Editor on
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