Dr. Willbon “Willy” Brown Bates, age 63, of Gadsden, Alabama entered Heaven’s gates on Friday, January 3, 2020. Funeral Services will be 2pm Tuesday, January 7, 2020 at Collier Butler Chapel. Rev. Randy Gunter will officiate. Burial will follow at Forrest Crest Cemetery in Irondale, AL. Collier Butler Funeral Home will direct services.
Dr. Bates earned multiple degrees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (BS in Biology, BA in Mathematics, BS in Nursing, and Doctorate of Medicine). She practiced medicine for over thirty-five years.
Dr. Bates was preceded in death by her son, Charles Edward Alan Bates; mother, Edith Covington Graff; stepfather, Edmund Graff; father, Joseph N. Brown; mother-in-law, Jean Richardson Bates; sister-in-law, Michelle Rene’ Bates; brother-in-law, Lyndon Seals; niece Farrah Seals.
Dr. Bates is survived by her husband, Richard Alan Bates; sister, Jenny Seals; nephew, Bradley Seals; brother, Ronnie Brown; brother-in-law, Greg Bates (Andrea); nephews, Heath (Brittany) and Hunter Bates; great nephew, Carter Bates; brother-in-law, Kenneth Lee Bates; special friends, Jo Clevenger, Gary Glidewell, and Ray Russell; and multiple other family members of the Clevenger, Bates, and Brown families.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Tuesday from noon until the hour of service.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or the Alabama Organ Center.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.collier-butler.com for the Bates family.
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