Gerald Eugene Bates

  Gerald Eugene Bates was born in Roosevelt, Oklahoma, on September 21, 1935, to A. E. and Jessie Dunegan Bates. He passed from this life on October 11, 2024, at home in Decatur, Texas, with wife and daughters at his bedside.

  Gerald and Bobbie Sue Hardin were united in marriage on June 10, 1955, in Prairie View Baptist Church, Snyder, Oklahoma.

  Gerald accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior at age eight and was baptized in 1943. He rededicated his life and received spiritual baptism October 1989, at Rolling Hills Baptist Church Weatherford Texas. He united with Central Baptist Church by statement of faith on December 12, 1991. He was ordained as a deacon August 23, 1998 and became very active in the church. He is a Native American Indian by blood degree in the Choctaw Nation through his maternal grandfather who is ½ Choctaw. 

  He was instrumental in establishing the Central Community Volunteer Fire Department as Emergency Services District (ESD) 8. During the 16th annual High School Reunion, Snyder Oklahoma, he was presented with a plaque recognizing his accomplishments in the aeronautical and military disciplines. 

  He was a volunteer with the American Red Cross for a number of years. He was deployed along the Gulf Coast due to hurricane disasters providing assistance with stationary and mobile feeding, family assistance, shelters and logistics. Also, he was assigned duty for the 911 disaster at Ground Zero in New York. He was deployed to various wildland fires in Texas, California, Arizona, and New Mexico. 

  Left to cherish his memory are his wife of 69 years, Bobbie; one sister, Shirley Montgomery, and one brother, Billy Bates and wife, Bernice; his daughters and special sons: Karletta and Charles Pruszynski; Darla and Steve Johns; Rhonna and Rick Smith; Sheri and Rick Wagner; and Robin and Lawson Smith; children of the heart, Jason and Angie Williams; seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and one on the way; as well as several cousins, nieces and nephews. 

  He was preceded in death by his parents, A. E. and Jessie Dunegan Bates; grandson, Paul Pruszynski; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Iman and Wilma Hardin; brother-in-law, Preston Montgomery; and nephew, Brady Young.

  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Galactosemia Research Association and Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. 

  A memorial service will be held at 12:00 p.m., on Saturday, October 19, 2024, at Central Baptist Church, in Weatherford, Texas.

  The funeral home is not involved in the service.