Horace Ray Bates

Our Dad, Horace Ray Bates was born June 8, 1956 and passed away with loving family by his bedside on April 1, 2022. 

One of his granddaughters said that he was playing an April Fool’s joke and all of us half expected him to start laughing, pull all the wires and tubes out of him, get out of bed, grab a cigarette and laugh his butt off at us….but he didn’t. Not this time. What he did do was leave a great amount of memories with us. Each of us had our own special moments with him and we will treasure those forever. He was a fairly private man and only a handful of people really knew him. Throughout my life I watched him fill a lot of different roles for me, friends, family, neighbors, co-workers and everyone else he met – Husband, father, son, grandpa, brother, uncle, friend, mentor, role-model, general Mr. Fix-It, etc…but one thing that was constant was that, what little he said, was always the truth. His actions spoke more than he could ever say and he rarely sat still and was always busy doing something, so in that way he was quite loud. So if you met, grew up, worked with, went to school with, partied with or whatever else with him then you have your own memories with him. Take a moment and say something out loud to him. Just like when he was here, he probably won’t say much or anything back, but he will be listening.

Memorial Service will be 3:00 p.m., Friday, April 15, 2022 at Cooper Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Ken Kerbo, C3 Cross Connection Church, Shawnee, OK officiating under the direction of Cooper Funeral Home of Tecumseh.