Ms. Jerrell Dean Bates

SYLACAUGA - Funeral service for Jerrell Dean Bates, 69, will be Saturday, Oct. 10, at 2 p.m. at Midway Memory Gardens Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Hubert Gentry officiating. Burial will be at Green Hill Cemetery in Childersburg. Ms. Bates died Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009, in Panama City Beach, Fla. She was a native of Sycamore but resided in Sylacauga. She was a loving, devoted mother, grandmother, and sister. She was preceded in death by her husband, Ernest Bates; her father, Jerry L. Murphy Sr.; and one brother, Tommy Murphy. She is survived by her mother, Mabel Murphy of Sycamore; two sons, Wendell Bates of Leeds and Tracey Bates of Sylacauga; three sisters, Mary Williams of Sylacauga, Clessie Fields of Sycamore, and Brenda Rosetti of Conyers, Ga.; two brothers, Louie Murphy of Sylacauga and Jeff Murphy of Foley; three grandchildren, Crystal Bates, Stephen A. Bates, and Rachel M. Bates; two great-grandchildren, Aleah Bates and Crimson Bates; and a special friend, Wayne Holcomb; and his two daughters, Tammy and Kelly. Pallbearers will be family and friends. The family will receive friends tonight from 6-8 p.m. at the funeral home. Midway Memory Gardens Funeral Home will direct the service.