Emery Ray Bates, son of Thomas and Flora Bates

by Ethel Mae Bates KinKade (daughter of Emery Ray Bates)

Life events:
Emery was born On October 17, 1907 in Riddle, Douglas, Oregon. However, his parents did not register his birth. That made problems for him later in life when a birth certificate was needed for verification. He eventually got a letter stating his birth from the State of Oregon.

Emery was removed from his mother's home at the age of nine, along with his twin brothers, Byron and Ralph (age seven, twins), by the Boys Girls Aid Society of Oregon in 1917. The boys were eventually placed with farmers in the Portland area; Emery to one farm near Hillsboro and the twins, together, to another. They were not allowed to write to one another or to see each other through all those years til' they were of age. Emery returned to the Riddle, OR area searching for his older brothers, Monte and Bon and located them. The twins stayed in the Portland area when they came of age. Emery looked for the twins, found them in Portland, Oregon and the family became re-acquainted after many years of traumatic separation.


Emery and his twin brothers received the pension money that had collected over the years while they were "farmed out" when they, consecutively, of age got released from Boys Girls Aid Society. Emery worked at the Prune Orchard Dryer in Riddle, Oregon after returning to the area.

Emery married Ethel Marie Tomerlin on August 1, 1935 in Myrtle Creek, Douglas, Oregon. They had four children. He worked on the Southern Pacific Railroad approximately 34 years. In the early 1930's, Emery started out as a night track walker advancing up to Section Foreman through the years. He and his crews rode the velocipede motor car. He preferred to stay in the Section Foreman position rather than advance up to higher ranks. He worked in southern Oregon at Reuben, West Fork, Glendale, and eventually moving his family to Suver, Oregon in 1943. Before the move to Suver, he worked on the railroad with his brother, Monte, and his father-in-law, Thomas Jackson Tomerlin. In 1952, he bid on and got the Section Foreman position at Monroe, Oregon and moved his family to Monroe, Oregon. In the late 1950's, after Emery's children were grown and married - Emery & his wife, Ethel, moved to Philomath, Oregon where he was section foreman, then to Richardson, Oregon, and then to Philomath, Oregon where they bought a home and Emery drove back and forth to his job as Section Foreman in Toledo, OR.

He was 54 years old when he died, January 28, 1962.
Funeral program: In Memory of Emery Ray Bates
Born October 17, 1907 - Passed Away January 28, 1962
Services:
Chapel of The McHenry Funeral Home, Corvallis, Oregon - 10:30 a.m., Thursday, February 1, 1962
Officiating: Reverend Walter W. Appleyard
Soloist: Nancy Crocker Organist: John O'Connor
Casket Bearers: Ed Turner, Pat Brown, Ralph Cobb, Bud Trotter, Larry Turner and Andy Rhodaback.
Internment: Riddle Cemetery, Douglas County, Riddle, Oregon