KERMIT RENO BATES

Kermit Bates

Kermit Reno Bates, 83, of Chico, Calif., formerly of Browning, died Thursday, July 3, 1997, at Enloe Hospital in Chico.

He was born June 6, 1914, in Browning, the son of Jonathan and Elva Bollinger Bates. He married Mary Ercolini on Feb. 14, 1940, in San Francisco. She survives.

Also surviving are one son, John of Reno, Nev.; two daughters, Barbara Stevens and Deborah White, both of Chico; two sisters, Garnet Briney of Morton and Betty Esther of Rushville; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

One sister preceded him in death.

He served in the Marine Corps for six years and later served in the Army Air Forces, where he was a nose gunner on a B-24. He worked for Standard Oil in San Francisco. He later was a toll collector for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. He then moved to Chico, where he worked for the State Board of Equalization for 32 years. He was a member of First Christian Church of Chico.

A memorial service was held Tuesday at his church. Burial was in Chico Cemetery, where military rites were conducted. Newton-Bracewell-Chico Funeral Home in Chico was in charge of arrangements.

Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association or to his church.

From the Peoria Journal Star.

Published in the Astoria South Fulton Argus on 7/9/1997