Ruth Bates

Benjamin Funeral Service - Nowata, Oklahoma Funeral services for Ruth Marie Bates are 2:00 P.M., Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at Southview Church of God in South Coffeyville, OK with Pastor Randy DePriest officiating. Interment will follow at Welch Cemetery. Online condolences may be left at www.honoringmemories.com. Ruth Marie Bates, 83, passed away Thursday, December 24, 2015 at Jane Phillips Medical Center in Bartlesville. She was born September 28, 1932, in Santa Rosa, Texas to Fret McLain and Wilma Ester (Sims) Williams. The Williams family left Texas for Oklahoma while Ruth was very small. Like many "Okies" the Williams family left the Dust Bowl for California. She also lived in Wichita, Kansas and Yakima, Washington. Ruth graduated from Columbia College, Kenniwick, Washington with a degree in nursing. She worked for Mercy Hospital in Carmichael, California and Ruth met her husband, Milton Bates in Napa, California and the couple was united in marriage on August 28, 1960 at a ceremony in Carson City, Nevada. During a nursing career that spanned 40 years, Ruth began as a Nurse's Aide, and LPN and became an RN, working at Dallas-St. Paul Hospital and Jane Phillips Medical Center in both Bartlesville and Nowata, Oklahoma. Milton and Ruth had moved to Nowata from Citrus Heights, California in 1994. She had attended the Lewark Church of God in Coffeyville, Kansas and the Southview Church, in South Coffeyville, Oklahoma and had taught Sunday school for over 40 years. Ruth is preceded in death by her parents, Fret and Wilma Williams; siblings, Dean Williams, Jack Williams, Jim Williams, Dorothy Williams Erickson, Catherine Williams Roney, Rene Williams Holland, Ellen Williams Forest. She is survived by her husband Donald Milton Bates of the home; two children, Joyce Bates Swanson of Statesville, NC., Kim Tignor and husband George of Andover, KS; a brother, Harold Williams; a half - brother, Henry Johnston; six grandchildren, Matthew Swanson, Caleb Swanson, Travis Sailsbury and wife Angela, Kevin Sailsbury, Ashley Mille and husband Winston, Michael Palos; a brother-in-law, Gilbert Bates of Midland, TX; a sister-in-law, Velma McKinney of Wichita, KS and ten great grandchildren.

Service Details

Wednesday, December 30th, 2015 2:00pm, Southview Church of God

Interment Details

Welch Cemetery