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 Shirley Grace Bates 1930 - 2010 Shirley was born in March of 1930 in Nanaimo, BC where she grew up and spent much of her life. She attended school there with her 2 younger brothers Bill and Jack; and as a teenage girl was the envy of Nanaimo when she was crowned the May Day Queen. Shirley met her soul mate Tom an Alberta boy, in Nanaimo when he was working at a sawmill. Tom soon nicknamed his fiery girl “Sapphire” as she was forever on his case for all the mischief he just couldn’t seem to stay out of. They married February 25th of 1950 and had 5 children in Nanaimo: Coreen, Gail, Dale, Wayne and Joanne before moving North in 1968. Tom had tired of relaxing island life. Looking for a real adventure, he said “Sapphire, pack up the kids we’re heading North!” They settled in Fireside at Mile 543 of the Alaska Highway where Tom and the boys worked maintaining the highway. But Tom and Shirley weren’t quite sure if they made the right decision so they moved back to Nanaimo one more time before heading to the Sikanni and the NWT where they lived at “Jean Marie Camp” and Tom had a road maintenance contract. The north brought many new experiences for Shirley. To continue exercising her well honed gift of the gab, she had to learn how to communicate on the CB radio. It wasn’t long before she was entertaining the airways and the road crew had coined her “Squirrelly Shirley.” Shirley also learned to love winter sports like squaw wrestling and curling. By the early 80’s Tom and Shirley were homesick for their ever-growing family so they headed south and bought an acreage outside of FSJ in Grandhaven with a big beautiful house and shop. Tom bought a few trucks -one for himself and each of the boys and Bates Trucking was born. Grandma &Grandpa’s place in Grandhaven was where we gathered many times as a whole family. It’s where the original Bates Brats reconnected and where the next generation’s bonds were built. Grandma & Grandpa gathered us for a party every chance they got, for Christmas, for boxing day, for new year’s day, for birthdays, for grey cup, for Sunday dinner. We lost grandpa suddenly in December of 1990 and we all gathered at the house in Grandhaven one last time before Shirley moved back to Nanaimo with the Hanston’s and Cheriton’s Once Shirley reached senior citizen status she thought it was about time she got a job so she started volunteering for “Send Dial” grocery shopping for the elderly and disable. Ironically, she was both of these things so Joanne and Gail would pick her up and driver down to the grocery store so she could do her job. In 2003 Shirley moved back up North to be closer to more family support as her mobility deteriorated. She lived in an apartment in Dawson Creek, then at the Pouce Coupe care home and finally at the Peace Lutheran care home in FSJ where she lived out the last 4 years of her life. Shirley leaves behind a very powerful legacy that will live on through the generations that follow. We love you grandma and we will always remember you and the love you gave us. A memorial service was held on Monday, June 7, 2010 at the Peace Lutheran Church, Fort St John, British Columbia. Expressions of sympathy in memory of Shirley may be made by donation to the British Columbia Arthritis Society 895 – West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1L7. |
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Dawson Creek: (250)
782-2577 Serving Fort St. John: (250) 785-2872 |
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