Elizabeth M. Bates

She attended Evanston schools, except for three high school years when her family lived temporarily in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

After her graduation from business school, she worked at the Northwestern Technological Institute and later, while her husband was in law school, at the University of Michigan. The author of fifteen published books for children under her informal name of Betty Bates, she was a member of the First Congregational Church of Evanston, where she once taught church school.

She had been a member of the Evanston Junior League and the Garden Club of Evanston. In later years, she volunteered for Meals at Home, the Presbyterian Homes, and the Hull House organization’s Grandma, Please program, a chat line for children.

She and her family often vacationed in Maine, at the century-old Bates family cottage located on an apple farm owned by treasured relatives.

Her husband, Edwin R. (Ted) Bates, and son Daniel W. Bates predeceased her, also a daughter, Wendy. Survivors are son Thomas R. and Lawrence F. Bates (Geri Lynn) of Fairfax Station, Virginia, daughter-in-law Mary Elizabeth of Gardiner, Maine, and daughter Sarah C. (David) Goodroe of Houston, Texas. She had six grandchildren.

Any memorials may go to The New Hope Scholarship, Geneva Foundation of Presbyterian Homes, 3200 Grant Street, Evanston, IL 60201, or a charity of your choice.

Memorial Service 2:00 PM, Friday, March 20, 2015 at Presbyterian Home Elliott Chapel, 3131 Simpson St. Evanston, Illinois, 60201; to sign Elizabeth’s online guestbook and view her MeM Video Tribute go to, www.wmscottfuneralhome.com.