Submitted by: Dan Rich

Betty Jane Bates

July 14, 1921 - Oct. 10, 1998

South Bend Tribune 10/11/1998

EDWARDSBURG - Betty Jane Bates, 77, who resided at 68294 Channel Parkway, Edwardsburg, Mich., passed away after an illness at 12:45 a.m. on Saturday morning, Oct. 10, at the Valley View Health Care Center of Elkhart, Ind.

Mrs. Bates was born on July 14, 1921, in Mishawaka, Ind., the daughter of Thomas and Mary Kerns, and had lived in the Edwardsburg area for several years.

Mrs. Bates was married on Aug. 23, 1940, in Mishawaka, as Betty Jane Kerns, to Charles Louis Bates, who survives. She is also survived by two sons, William J. Bates and his wife Phyllis of Elkhart, and Richard C. Bates and his wife Linda of Mishawaka; five grandchildren, Jonathan Bates, Richard Bates, Jr., Kenneth C. Bates, Christina Zielinski and Sandi Wilson; and by two sisters, Kathleen Matthews of South Bend, Ind., and Marjorie Bush of Mishawaka. She was preceded in death by two children, Paul and Marsha Bates; and by a grandchild, Jamey Bates.

Services will be at noon (Mich. time) on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at the Paul E. Mayhew Funeral Home, and burial will follow in Edwardsburg Cemetery. Friends will be received from 6 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday at the Paul E. Mayhew Funeral Home, and for one hour prior to time of services on Wednesday.