Henry Louis Gates, Sr.

Obituary:

"...WAYNE, N.J. — Henry Louis Gates Sr., age 97, formerly a resident of Cumberland, Md., and Piedmont, W.Va., died peacefully on Christmas Eve, 2010, in Wayne, N.J., at home with his family gathered at his bedside. After living in Lexington, Mass., following the death of his wife, Mr. Gates had resided for the past several years at the home of his older son, Dr. Paul Gates.

Henry was born in Patterson Creek, W.Va., on June 8, 1913. One of eight children born to Edward St. Lawrence Gates and Helen Gertrude Redman Gates, he was the youngest of seven sons.

He was a graduate of Frederick Street High School and in 1998 received an honorary doctorate degree from Seton Hall University. He worked for much of his career at the Westvaco Paper Mill in Luke, Md., and at the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, in Piedmont, W.Va.

He also served in various positions in Local 676 of the Papermakers and Paperworkers Union.
He and his wife, Pauline Augusta Coleman Gates, who died in 1987, made their home in Piedmont, where they raised two sons. Henry served in the United States Army during World War II, rising to the rank of sergeant, and was nearly 28 years old when he enlisted in 1941.

In recent years, Henry made appearances in the popular PBS television series, “African American Lives” and “Faces of America.” As part of the latter program, he had his full genome sequenced, making scientific history by becoming the oldest human being to have had this procedure done and made publicly available for scientific and medical research.

Henry is survived by his two devoted sons: Dr. Paul E. Gates, the Chief of Dentistry at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in New York, and his wife, Gemina, Assistant Dean and Director of the Sophie Davis Physician Assistant Program at City College in New York, both of Wayne, N.J., and Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard, in Cambridge, Mass.; ten grandchildren, including Maude Augusta and Elizabeth Helen Claire Gates, both of Cambridge; Eboni Gates, of Harlem, N.Y.; Jennifer Rogers and her husband, Shane, of Durham, N.C.; Aaron Pierce Gates, of Wayne; Louis Pena and his wife, Yiwen, of Queens, N.Y.; Matthew, Michael, Kristen, and Alexander Pena, all of Wayne; as well as three great-grandchildren: Gage Rogers of Durham, N.C., and Shelby and Sydney Pena, both of Queens, NY. Henry was predeceased by his wife, Pauline, and all seven of his siblings.

His funeral was held at Christ’s Episcopal Church in Pompton Lakes, N.J., on Dec. 30, 2010. A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 5, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Cumberland. His remains will be interred in Potomac Memorial Gardens, in Keyser, W.Va., next to the remains of his wife, Pauline.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to The Henry and Pauline Coleman Gates Scholarship Fund at the following address:

West Virginia University Foundation: 1 Waterfront Place, 7th Floor, Morgantown, West Virginia 26501..."

SOURCE: Keyser, WV - Mineral Daily News-Tribune

Burial:

Keyser, Mineral County, West Virginia, USA

• SOURCE: Find-A-Grave

From "Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Head Negro In Charge." By Cheryl Bentsen.  Boston Magazine, April 1998.  "His father, Henry Louis Gates Sr., nicknamed "Heinie," was so light-skinned he could pass for white. But the only way the elder Gates could support his wife and two sons in Piedmont was with two jobs: loading trucks at the paper mill and working nights as a janitor for the phone company. ... As the years went by, he [Henry Louis Gates, Jr.] identified increasingly with his father’s side of the family— "doctors and dentists, lawyers and pharmacists" who had gone to "Howard and Talladega, Harvard and Radcliffe." He had been shocked to realize that these refined, well-spoken characters in his father’s tales actually existed and were related to him."

— WAYNE, N.J. — Henry Louis Gates Sr., 97, formerly a resident of Cumberland and Piedmont, W.Va., died peacefully on Christmas Eve, 2010, in Wayne, at home with his family gathered at his bedside. After living in Lexington, Mass., following the death of his wife, Mr. Gates had resided for the past several years at the home of his older son, Dr. Paul Gates.

Henry was born in Patterson's Creek, W.Va., on June 8, 1913. One of eight children born to Edward St. Lawrence Gates and Helen Gertrude Redman Gates, he was the youngest of seven sons.

He was a graduate of Frederick Street High School and in 1998 received an honorary doctorate degree from Seton Hall University. He worked for much of his career at the Westvaco Paper Mill in Luke, and at the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, in Piedmont. He also served in various positions in Local 676 of the Papermakers and Paperworkers Union. He and his wife, Pauline Augusta Coleman Gates, who died in 1987, made their home in Piedmont, where they raised two sons. Henry served in the United States Army during World War II, rising to the rank of sergeant, and was nearly twenty eight years old when he enlisted in 1941. In recent years, Henry made appearances in the popular PBS television series, "African American Lives" and "Faces of America." As part of the latter program, he had his full genome sequenced, making scientific history by becoming the oldest human being to have had this procedure done and made publicly available for scientific and medical research.

Henry is survived by his two devoted sons, Dr. Paul E. Gates, the Chief of Dentistry at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in New York, and his wife, Gemina, Assistant Dean and Director of the Sophie Davis Physician Assistant Program at City College in New York, both of Wayne, N.J. and Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard, in Cambridge, Mass.; 10 grandchildren, including Maude Augusta and Elizabeth Helen Claire Gates, both of Cambridge, Eboni Gates of Harlem, N.Y., Jennifer Rogers and her husband, Shane, of Durham, N.C., Aaron Pierce Gates of Wayne, Louis Pena and his wife, Yiwen, of Queens, N.Y., Matthew, Michael, Kristen, and Alexander Pena, all of Wayne; as well as three great-grandchildren, Gage Rogers of Durham, and Shelby and Sydney Pena, both of Queens.

Henry was predeceased by his wife, Pauline, and all seven of his siblings.

His funeral was held at Christ's Episcopal Church in Pompton Lakes, N.J. on Dec. 30, 2010.

A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011 at 11 a.m. at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Cumberland.

His remains will be interred in Potomac Memorial Gardens, in Keyser, W.Va., next to the remains of his wife, Pauline.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to The Henry and Pauline Coleman Gates Scholarship Fund at the following address at West Virginia University Foundation, 1 Waterfront Place, 7th Floor, Morgantown, WV 26501.

Inscription
Sunset and evening star, and one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning when I put out to sea.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Feb 22 2023, 13:15:44 UTC