Obituary: Catheryn Gates was a part of Placer County's historyBy Dorothy Korber -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, August 29, 2004
'From ranch girl to schoolteacher to spirited senior citizen, Catheryn Gates spent nearly a century in Placer County. Some might think a life so rooted in one spot must be limited, but Miss Gates found happiness and limitless satisfaction right where she was born. This child of Lincoln pioneers wasn't nicknamed "Rambo" for nothing.
Miss Gates died Tuesday at age 98. Her health had been in decline since she suffered a coronary thrombosis last year.
"I thank God that I was a teacher for 36 years in Roseville," she proclaimed in October 2000 at the dedication of a new elementary school named for her.
Miss Gates loved her teaching career and stayed in touch with many of her pupils - still her "kids" even when they were senior citizens themselves. But education was just one facet of a selfless life. She was a dutiful daughter who lived with her parents until their deaths. A saxophone player who entertained at USO dances during World War II. A volunteer who made countless dressings for cancer patients. A loyal member of the Heber Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, in which she found companionship and spiritual meaning.
Miss Gates never married, she said, because she didn't have time.
She was born June 30, 1906, and grew up at her parents' ranch on 500 oak-studded acres two miles outside Lincoln. Her father was Edward M. Gates, whose parents had settled in the area in the 1850s. Her mother was Emma Jane Hoppert Gates, child of first-generation German immigrants. She had one brother, Earl, who died in 1981.
She liked to tell her pupils about her rustic childhood, when her brother would drive her to school each day in a pony cart.
"It was a very rugged life," said Earl Gates' daughter, Marcia Gates Woods. "Catheryn and her mother would cook for the ranch hands. She didn't have any dolls. For fun, she played marbles with her brother. They studied by a kerosene lamp."
When Miss Gates decided to go to college in Chico, her parents moved there with her. In 1928, when she returned to take her first teaching job in Roseville, her parents rented the ranch and moved to town with her.
Until she went to a skilled-care facility in February, Miss Gates lived in the Roseville house on Columbia Avenue that her dad had built from scratch in 1941.
Over the years, she taught at three Roseville schools: Main Street, Oak Street and Atlantic Street. Her longest stint was 20 years at the Atlantic Street school, teaching sixth and seventh grades. She once said she had no desire to teach high school because "eighth-graders get cocky enough."
As a teacher, Miss Gates was ahead of her time. She assigned her students projects in the community, and she spoke out against corporal punishment. And, in her spare moments, she directed the school harmonica band.
After her retirement in 1964, she was an eager volunteer. She worked in the Roseville Hospital gift shop for two decades. And, every Thursday morning without fail, she and other volunteers gathered in the basement at Roseville's Memorial Hall to fashion dressings for cancer patients.
That's where she got the Rambo nickname. Miss Gates was relentless in organizing the women, logging their hours, hauling bolts of cotton batting to the basement and delivering the finished dressings to the American Cancer Society.
The project was part of her longtime affiliation with the Eastern Star. She also was a grand matron of the organization.
Active in her 90s, Miss Gates was a frequent visitor to Catheryn Gates Elementary School, built near the Roseville Galleria. She read to the children and shared stories of her pioneer childhood.
When she moved to the nursing home last winter, her room was decorated with the kids' art. She asked visitors to read her the letters the children still sent.
"She didn't feel well the last few months, but when I read her those letters, she'd listen intently and her eyes would sparkle," said Woods, her niece. "Those letters meant everything to her - she was still making a difference to her kids."
Miss Gates spent nearly 100 years in Placer County, witnessing firsthand its transformation from sleepy ranch land to bustling suburbia. She embraced that change.
"She was an interesting amalgam," her niece said. "She was an old-fashioned, conservative person in her values. However, I really consider her a modern woman in the sense that she was never afraid of change, she was flexible, and she rolled with the punches. Catheryn was amazed at what was happening in Placer County, but she thought it was good. She was proud of it."
Remembered for: Placer County pioneer, longtime Roseville teacher, energetic community volunteer. Survived by: Nephew, Francis Lowell Gates; and niece, Marcia Gates Woods.
Services: Private family service. Public memorial 1 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Roseville Masonic Center, 235 Vernon St. Donations in her memory can be made to Catheryn Gates Elementary School in Roseville.
Note;
Brother Edward Earl Gates also an educator died before Catheryn 11/23/1901- 9/07/1981 at 79 yrs of age and is buried in Newcastle Cem.
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, August 29, 2004
'From ranch girl to schoolteacher to spirited senior citizen, Catheryn Gates spent nearly a century in Placer County. Some might think a life so rooted in one spot must be limited, but Miss Gates found happiness and limitless satisfaction right where she was born. This child of Lincoln pioneers wasn't nicknamed "Rambo" for nothing.
Miss Gates died Tuesday at age 98. Her health had been in decline since she suffered a coronary thrombosis last year.
"I thank God that I was a teacher for 36 years in Roseville," she proclaimed in October 2000 at the dedication of a new elementary school named for her.
Miss Gates loved her teaching career and stayed in touch with many of her pupils - still her "kids" even when they were senior citizens themselves. But education was just one facet of a selfless life. She was a dutiful daughter who lived with her parents until their deaths. A saxophone player who entertained at USO dances during World War II. A volunteer who made countless dressings for cancer patients. A loyal member of the Heber Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, in which she found companionship and spiritual meaning.
Miss Gates never married, she said, because she didn't have time.
She was born June 30, 1906, and grew up at her parents' ranch on 500 oak-studded acres two miles outside Lincoln. Her father was Edward M. Gates, whose parents had settled in the area in the 1850s. Her mother was Emma Jane Hoppert Gates, child of first-generation German immigrants. She had one brother, Earl, who died in 1981.
She liked to tell her pupils about her rustic childhood, when her brother would drive her to school each day in a pony cart.
"It was a very rugged life," said Earl Gates' daughter, Marcia Gates Woods. "Catheryn and her mother would cook for the ranch hands. She didn't have any dolls. For fun, she played marbles with her brother. They studied by a kerosene lamp."
When Miss Gates decided to go to college in Chico, her parents moved there with her. In 1928, when she returned to take her first teaching job in Roseville, her parents rented the ranch and moved to town with her.
Until she went to a skilled-care facility in February, Miss Gates lived in the Roseville house on Columbia Avenue that her dad had built from scratch in 1941.
Over the years, she taught at three Roseville schools: Main Street, Oak Street and Atlantic Street. Her longest stint was 20 years at the Atlantic Street school, teaching sixth and seventh grades. She once said she had no desire to teach high school because "eighth-graders get cocky enough."
As a teacher, Miss Gates was ahead of her time. She assigned her students projects in the community, and she spoke out against corporal punishment. And, in her spare moments, she directed the school harmonica band.
After her retirement in 1964, she was an eager volunteer. She worked in the Roseville Hospital gift shop for two decades. And, every Thursday morning without fail, she and other volunteers gathered in the basement at Roseville's Memorial Hall to fashion dressings for cancer patients.
That's where she got the Rambo nickname. Miss Gates was relentless in organizing the women, logging their hours, hauling bolts of cotton batting to the basement and delivering the finished dressings to the American Cancer Society.
The project was part of her longtime affiliation with the Eastern Star. She also was a grand matron of the organization.
Active in her 90s, Miss Gates was a frequent visitor to Catheryn Gates Elementary School, built near the Roseville Galleria. She read to the children and shared stories of her pioneer childhood.
When she moved to the nursing home last winter, her room was decorated with the kids' art. She asked visitors to read her the letters the children still sent.
"She didn't feel well the last few months, but when I read her those letters, she'd listen intently and her eyes would sparkle," said Woods, her niece. "Those letters meant everything to her - she was still making a difference to her kids."
Miss Gates spent nearly 100 years in Placer County, witnessing firsthand its transformation from sleepy ranch land to bustling suburbia. She embraced that change.
"She was an interesting amalgam," her niece said. "She was an old-fashioned, conservative person in her values. However, I really consider her a modern woman in the sense that she was never afraid of change, she was flexible, and she rolled with the punches. Catheryn was amazed at what was happening in Placer County, but she thought it was good. She was proud of it."
Remembered for: Placer County pioneer, longtime Roseville teacher, energetic community volunteer. Survived by: Nephew, Francis Lowell Gates; and niece, Marcia Gates Woods.
Services: Private family service. Public memorial 1 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Roseville Masonic Center, 235 Vernon St. Donations in her memory can be made to Catheryn Gates Elementary School in Roseville.
Note;
Brother Edward Earl Gates also an educator died before Catheryn 11/23/1901- 9/07/1981 at 79 yrs of age and is buried in Newcastle Cem.
Obituary: Catheryn Gates was a part of Placer County's historyBy Dorothy Korber -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, August 29, 2004
'From ranch girl to schoolteacher to spirited senior citizen, Catheryn Gates spent nearly a century in Placer County. Some might think a life so rooted in one spot must be limited, but Miss Gates found happiness and limitless satisfaction right where she was born. This child of Lincoln pioneers wasn't nicknamed "Rambo" for nothing.
Miss Gates died Tuesday at age 98. Her health had been in decline since she suffered a coronary thrombosis last year.
"I thank God that I was a teacher for 36 years in Roseville," she proclaimed in October 2000 at the dedication of a new elementary school named for her.
Miss Gates loved her teaching career and stayed in touch with many of her pupils - still her "kids" even when they were senior citizens themselves. But education was just one facet of a selfless life. She was a dutiful daughter who lived with her parents until their deaths. A saxophone player who entertained at USO dances during World War II. A volunteer who made countless dressings for cancer patients. A loyal member of the Heber Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, in which she found companionship and spiritual meaning.
Miss Gates never married, she said, because she didn't have time.
She was born June 30, 1906, and grew up at her parents' ranch on 500 oak-studded acres two miles outside Lincoln. Her father was Edward M. Gates, whose parents had settled in the area in the 1850s. Her mother was Emma Jane Hoppert Gates, child of first-generation German immigrants. She had one brother, Earl, who died in 1981.
She liked to tell her pupils about her rustic childhood, when her brother would drive her to school each day in a pony cart.
"It was a very rugged life," said Earl Gates' daughter, Marcia Gates Woods. "Catheryn and her mother would cook for the ranch hands. She didn't have any dolls. For fun, she played marbles with her brother. They studied by a kerosene lamp."
When Miss Gates decided to go to college in Chico, her parents moved there with her. In 1928, when she returned to take her first teaching job in Roseville, her parents rented the ranch and moved to town with her.
Until she went to a skilled-care facility in February, Miss Gates lived in the Roseville house on Columbia Avenue that her dad had built from scratch in 1941.
Over the years, she taught at three Roseville schools: Main Street, Oak Street and Atlantic Street. Her longest stint was 20 years at the Atlantic Street school, teaching sixth and seventh grades. She once said she had no desire to teach high school because "eighth-graders get cocky enough."
As a teacher, Miss Gates was ahead of her time. She assigned her students projects in the community, and she spoke out against corporal punishment. And, in her spare moments, she directed the school harmonica band.
After her retirement in 1964, she was an eager volunteer. She worked in the Roseville Hospital gift shop for two decades. And, every Thursday morning without fail, she and other volunteers gathered in the basement at Roseville's Memorial Hall to fashion dressings for cancer patients.
That's where she got the Rambo nickname. Miss Gates was relentless in organizing the women, logging their hours, hauling bolts of cotton batting to the basement and delivering the finished dressings to the American Cancer Society.
The project was part of her longtime affiliation with the Eastern Star. She also was a grand matron of the organization.
Active in her 90s, Miss Gates was a frequent visitor to Catheryn Gates Elementary School, built near the Roseville Galleria. She read to the children and shared stories of her pioneer childhood.
When she moved to the nursing home last winter, her room was decorated with the kids' art. She asked visitors to read her the letters the children still sent.
"She didn't feel well the last few months, but when I read her those letters, she'd listen intently and her eyes would sparkle," said Woods, her niece. "Those letters meant everything to her - she was still making a difference to her kids."
Miss Gates spent nearly 100 years in Placer County, witnessing firsthand its transformation from sleepy ranch land to bustling suburbia. She embraced that change.
"She was an interesting amalgam," her niece said. "She was an old-fashioned, conservative person in her values. However, I really consider her a modern woman in the sense that she was never afraid of change, she was flexible, and she rolled with the punches. Catheryn was amazed at what was happening in Placer County, but she thought it was good. She was proud of it."
Remembered for: Placer County pioneer, longtime Roseville teacher, energetic community volunteer. Survived by: Nephew, Francis Lowell Gates; and niece, Marcia Gates Woods.
Services: Private family service. Public memorial 1 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Roseville Masonic Center, 235 Vernon St. Donations in her memory can be made to Catheryn Gates Elementary School in Roseville.
Note;
Brother Edward Earl Gates also an educator died before Catheryn 11/23/1901- 9/07/1981 at 79 yrs of age and is buried in Newcastle Cem.
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, August 29, 2004
'From ranch girl to schoolteacher to spirited senior citizen, Catheryn Gates spent nearly a century in Placer County. Some might think a life so rooted in one spot must be limited, but Miss Gates found happiness and limitless satisfaction right where she was born. This child of Lincoln pioneers wasn't nicknamed "Rambo" for nothing.
Miss Gates died Tuesday at age 98. Her health had been in decline since she suffered a coronary thrombosis last year.
"I thank God that I was a teacher for 36 years in Roseville," she proclaimed in October 2000 at the dedication of a new elementary school named for her.
Miss Gates loved her teaching career and stayed in touch with many of her pupils - still her "kids" even when they were senior citizens themselves. But education was just one facet of a selfless life. She was a dutiful daughter who lived with her parents until their deaths. A saxophone player who entertained at USO dances during World War II. A volunteer who made countless dressings for cancer patients. A loyal member of the Heber Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, in which she found companionship and spiritual meaning.
Miss Gates never married, she said, because she didn't have time.
She was born June 30, 1906, and grew up at her parents' ranch on 500 oak-studded acres two miles outside Lincoln. Her father was Edward M. Gates, whose parents had settled in the area in the 1850s. Her mother was Emma Jane Hoppert Gates, child of first-generation German immigrants. She had one brother, Earl, who died in 1981.
She liked to tell her pupils about her rustic childhood, when her brother would drive her to school each day in a pony cart.
"It was a very rugged life," said Earl Gates' daughter, Marcia Gates Woods. "Catheryn and her mother would cook for the ranch hands. She didn't have any dolls. For fun, she played marbles with her brother. They studied by a kerosene lamp."
When Miss Gates decided to go to college in Chico, her parents moved there with her. In 1928, when she returned to take her first teaching job in Roseville, her parents rented the ranch and moved to town with her.
Until she went to a skilled-care facility in February, Miss Gates lived in the Roseville house on Columbia Avenue that her dad had built from scratch in 1941.
Over the years, she taught at three Roseville schools: Main Street, Oak Street and Atlantic Street. Her longest stint was 20 years at the Atlantic Street school, teaching sixth and seventh grades. She once said she had no desire to teach high school because "eighth-graders get cocky enough."
As a teacher, Miss Gates was ahead of her time. She assigned her students projects in the community, and she spoke out against corporal punishment. And, in her spare moments, she directed the school harmonica band.
After her retirement in 1964, she was an eager volunteer. She worked in the Roseville Hospital gift shop for two decades. And, every Thursday morning without fail, she and other volunteers gathered in the basement at Roseville's Memorial Hall to fashion dressings for cancer patients.
That's where she got the Rambo nickname. Miss Gates was relentless in organizing the women, logging their hours, hauling bolts of cotton batting to the basement and delivering the finished dressings to the American Cancer Society.
The project was part of her longtime affiliation with the Eastern Star. She also was a grand matron of the organization.
Active in her 90s, Miss Gates was a frequent visitor to Catheryn Gates Elementary School, built near the Roseville Galleria. She read to the children and shared stories of her pioneer childhood.
When she moved to the nursing home last winter, her room was decorated with the kids' art. She asked visitors to read her the letters the children still sent.
"She didn't feel well the last few months, but when I read her those letters, she'd listen intently and her eyes would sparkle," said Woods, her niece. "Those letters meant everything to her - she was still making a difference to her kids."
Miss Gates spent nearly 100 years in Placer County, witnessing firsthand its transformation from sleepy ranch land to bustling suburbia. She embraced that change.
"She was an interesting amalgam," her niece said. "She was an old-fashioned, conservative person in her values. However, I really consider her a modern woman in the sense that she was never afraid of change, she was flexible, and she rolled with the punches. Catheryn was amazed at what was happening in Placer County, but she thought it was good. She was proud of it."
Remembered for: Placer County pioneer, longtime Roseville teacher, energetic community volunteer. Survived by: Nephew, Francis Lowell Gates; and niece, Marcia Gates Woods.
Services: Private family service. Public memorial 1 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Roseville Masonic Center, 235 Vernon St. Donations in her memory can be made to Catheryn Gates Elementary School in Roseville.
Note;
Brother Edward Earl Gates also an educator died before Catheryn 11/23/1901- 9/07/1981 at 79 yrs of age and is buried in Newcastle Cem.
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