Leroy Albert Gates

1923 - 2012

Leroy Albert Gates

St. Cloud, MN formerly of Big Falls, MN

June 10, 1923 - April 21, 2012

LeRoy "Roy" A. Gates, age 88, died Saturday, April 21, 2012 at the St. Cloud Veterans Affairs Medical Center due to complications from diabetes. Interment will be in the Staples Cemetery, County Road 138, St. Joseph, MN on July 14, 2013 at 2:00 PM.

Roy was born June 10, 1923 in Livona Township, ND to LeRoy and Anna (Fluegel) Gates. He graduated from Big Falls High School in 1941 as Valedictorian. He entered the US Merchant Marine Cadet Core in 1943 and served throughout the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific War Zones as a Merchant Mariner.

He married Ellen Christine Ostby during his Mariner Service and a son, Kenneth Allen, was born in 1946 while the couple lived in Minneapolis, MN. Shortly thereafter they moved to St. Cloud and built a home while he worked as an electrician. After their divorce in 1951, Roy worked on a government project in Thule, Greenland. On return stateside, he continued in the electrical construction industry retiring after 32 years. He was a 55 year member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a "Paid for Life" member of the American Legion Post 428, and a member in good standing with the American Merchant Marines Viking Chapter.

Roy enjoyed hunting, fishing and building various projects in his garage such as a tracked "swamp buggy", a gyroplane and rebuilding a Piper Cub airplane. He was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association and greatly enjoyed flying his plane.

Survivors include two sisters; Joyce Ennis of Denver, CO and Beverly Gates of Virginia, MN. Son Kenneth Gates and Lynn Haldy of Becker, MN. Grandsons; Chad Gates of Atlanta, GA, Joshua Meyer, Deployed Navy, and Anthony Gates of Sioux Falls, SD; as well as five great-grandchildren.

Roy was preceded in death by his parents, LeRoy and Anna Gates, and his siblings, Lois and Ernest.