AMM3 Thomas J. Bates
1922 - 1999
USN
WWII
Thomas John “Jack” Bates was born September 11, 1922 in Enid, Oklahoma to Gifford and Pauline Cooper Bates.
Bates grew up in Phoenix, and was working for Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach when he registered for the World War II draft in 1942. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1945 on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Saratoga as an Aviation Machinist’s Mate Third Class.
He met his future wife, Viola West, on a blind date while on sick leave at Great Lakes Naval Station in March, 1943. He married her on June 25, 1945 at the Grand Canyon; they raised two children in Glenview and Barrington.
Bates was a retired technical writer, editor, publicist and advertiser. He had worked for Rockwell International and later owned his own business, T.J. Bates and Associates, which he ran until his 1987 retirement.
He was an avid reader, writer and historian, and wrote stories about the old West for his family. He also enjoyed horseback riding and genealogy research.
AMM3 Jack Bates died with his wife in a car accident in Fox River Grove on May 7, 1999; they rest together in Barrington’s Evergreen Cemetery.
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Remember. Honor. Teach.
Courtesy of Signal Hill Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.