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Richard Dallas Bates

1946 - 2023

Richard Dallas Bates obituary, 1946-2023, Lamar, CO

Richard Bates Obituary

Richard Dallas Bates of Aurora, CO passed away on February 21, 2023, after battling cancer for the last several years. He was born on June 5, 1946, to Charles R and Oriska (Easterlin) Bates in Rocky Ford, CO. He lived in Las Animas and then Wiley, CO where he graduated from Wiley High School in 1964. He earned a B.A. in business at Southern Colorado State College in 1968. After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and then later in Officer Training School. He was assigned as a logistics officer and was discharged after twenty years of service as a Captain. He earned an MBA in business administration from Webster University. He is survived by his wife, Margaret (Sherman), son Michael and daughter Michelle (Jeff) Stout. Grandchildren include Cici Bates and Hunter and Brenton Stout. He is also survived by brothers Charles Larry Bates and family of Colorado Springs, and Gerald Bates and family of Lamar. His younger brother Donald Bates passed in 2006. He was active in high school sports and was a lifetime fan of college and professional sports in Colorado. He enjoyed socializing with family and friends at Legends in Aurora. The funeral service will be held at Fort Logan on March 22nd at 10 AM. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Denver Hospice.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Lamar Ledger on Mar. 23, 2023.

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3 Entries

Jim Booth

April 29, 2023

Jim Booth

April 29, 2023

Jim Booth

April 29, 2023

I was so sorry to read of Dick's passing. We were close friends when I went to Sheppard AFB after enlisting in the Air Force in July,1969. We were both in supply, given our common degrees in business administration. I met my wife Kay in March of 1970 and we married in Dec of that year. Dick was my Best Man. I transferred into the band shortly after that, then decided to take the early out offered in 1972. I have thought about Dick often throughout the intervening years. I did some research, with no luck, in January of this year to see if I could locate him in preparation for a trip out west in September. The trigger today for additional research was a notation on my Air Force vaccination card cover I found in a file giving Dick's address in Wichita Falls and his father's address in Lamar. The search for his father produced the link to his obit. I never learned that he stayed in, or that he went on to become an officer, although I was not surprised that he had done so. We moved back east to Rochester, NY, then to New Orleans with Price Waterhouse and finally back to the Northeast with another CPA firm. All of that moving, and probably Dick's subsequent assignments, left us without connections. Of all of my friends in the years since, I consider Dick among the 2 with whom I was closest. The reasons for my not doing a better job of tracking him down are mystifying to me. My memories of his quick wit and sense of humor will be with me always.
To Dick's widow and family, I send my heartfelt condolences. Our trip this year is pretty well fixed, but maybe we can connect on a future trip.

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