Bobby Austin Gates, 81, passed away Wednesday, October 26, 2016 in a local hospital.
As a young boy, he wanted to do two things in life, serve his Lord and Savior and be like the soldiers he waved to every day from Ball Park Curve on South Lee Highway.
He retired from the United States Marine Corps as a Master Gunnery Sergeant (E9) after serving 22 years on active duty. He was a veteran of the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War. In 1959 he became the 13th Computer Programmer in the Marine Corps. Computer technology and changes always amazed him, and he saw two careers of it. Caught up in the Agent Orange fiasco while serving in Vietnam, he became a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans. He was also a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
He was also retired from the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga as the Superintendent, Systems and Data Processing. He spent 19 years there and retired at the age of 58 to follow his Lord and Savior’s calling to serve as the Minister of Education at Big Spring Baptist Church. Upon his third and last retirement, he and his wife spent their real retirement years at Candies Creek Baptist Church.
He was preceded in death by his loving and wonderful wife of 61 years, Betty Jo Link Gates; parents, Cletis and Lenora Gee Gates; son, Robert Steven Gates; son-in-law, Jody Conn; sisters, Barbara Ann Guy and Sharon Howard; and brother Vernon Gates.
He is survived by his daughter, Lenora Gates Conn of Chattanooga; grandsons, Terran Price, Charlie Gates and wife Tabitha; granddaughter, Tracey Price Hill; great-grandson, Austin Hill; great-granddaughter, Mary Bethany Alyssa Hill; sister, Evelyn Payne and husband Winston; and several cousins, nieces and nephews.
A remembrance of life Memorial Service will be conducted at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30, in the chapel of Ralph Buckner Funeral Home. Interment will follow at Fort Hill Cemetery with full military honors.
The family will receive friends from 1-2 p.m. prior to the service at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the Candies Creek Baptist Church Missions Fund, 294 Old Eureka Road, Charleston, TN 37310.
Ralph Buckner Funeral Home has charge of the arrangements.