Percival Taylor Gates, Sr

Percival Taylor Gates Sr. known as "Percy", born in Montclair, Essex County, NJ, January 3, 1897, married, October 7, 1922, in Chicago, Cook County, IL, Frances Elaine Crozier, born October 7, 1901, in Chicago, daughter of Franklin H. and Clara Alaysia (Pope) Crozier. They had 3 boys.

He graduated in June 1917 from the Hill School at Pottstown, PA. He had received military training at Plattsburgh Training Camp and was made cadet captain of the Hill School. He distinguished himself scholastically by winning several public debates. Although under-age, he enlisted for service in World War I, took flight training, and flew a Squad, the French-built fighter plane, in combat over France. A book based on his wartime pilot's log, An American Pilot in the Skies of France: The Diaries and Letters of Percival T. Gates, 1917-1918, edited by David K. Vaughn, was published in 1992 by Wright State University Press, Dayton, Ohio. His book provides a realistic description of the first war in the air with a comprehensive account of the pilot's life in the air and on the ground and the dangers inherent in flying the developmental aircraft of that era. Mr. Gates's World War I souvenirs are on display in the Owl's Head Transportation Museum, Rockport, ME.

He entered the University of Chicago in 1920, enrolled in the scientific course, was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa key, and was elected to Sigma Psi scientific fraternity. After graduating, he continued his studies, specializing in plant pathology and genetics. In 1926, he and his wife moved to Montclair, NJ and he began his career with Bankers Trust Company. He worked as a stockbroker before the 1929 crash and afterward he went into the manufacture of paper-makers felt. He held a patent on the design of needles used in the manufacturing process. In 1955, he became a manufacturing business consultant and he retired in 1962.

Mrs. Gates died in February 1978 in Suffield, Hartford County, CT and he died, October 1, 1978, in Hartford, CT. Their bodies were cremated and the ashes spread near their summer home, Yonderhill, on Vinalhaven Island, ME.