Luther Yates

Luther Yates Aug. 5, 1922 ~ June 27, 2010 Resident of El Sobrante Luther was 87 years old and died of natural causes. He was moribund over the loss of his wife Constance (Connie) in 2007 and never really recovered. People will remember Luke as a hard worker and a hard player. If you wouldn't keep up with his standards of work he could be difficult. But he was ready with praise if you performed admirably. When work was done and it was time to play he would sing and dance until dawn. Connie played all the old tunes and he would sing. Blessed with a good ear and a good voice he could have been a good musician, but he never did. Always ready for a good wager you would see him frequently at Golden Gate fields during the season, on a weekend trip to South Lake Tahoe at the craps table or just a neighborhood Poker game. He claimed he always had a wad of cash when his ship hit port in WWll from onboard craps games. He was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He said that from the stern of the deck of the USS St. Louis he could see the pilots of the Raiding party as they dropped the torpedoes and some co-pilots taking his picture as they flew by. All of his good friends in the Pearl Harbor Survivors Assn. will miss him greatly. Sadly the club is slowly diminishing. One of his days off was at the track, the other was in his fishing boat. He could regale you with great fish stories that he could back up with fotos. In the 50s he could bring home 7-8 striped bass to over 20 lbs. He would fish by the Berkeley pier, off rodeo or up the delta. He was a real hero, he was my hero, and we will miss him.