Kenneth Lee Bates

Kenneth Lee Bates, 80, Independence, Mo., passed away on Friday, March 18, 2011, at Carmel Hill Healthcare and Rehab Center in Independence. He was born July 9, 1930, in Farmville, Va., to Kenny Bates and Janie Bell Bowen Bates.

Kenneth grew up in Virginia and attended school there. He came to Illinois in 1947 where he met Alberta B. Cox and they were married in 1949. They moved to the Kansas City area in 1950. Kenneth worked in the garment industry in Kansas City for most of his life. He went to work for United Missouri Bank in the 1980s until his retirement.

Survivors include his wife, Alberta, of the home; three children, Stephen Bates, Nevada, Mo., Michael Bates and his wife, Susan, Lake Lotawana, Mo., and Valerie Shoopman and her husband, Keith, Belton, Mo.; two grandsons, Corey Shoopman, Belton, Mo., and Bret Shoopman, Denver, Colo.; and several cousins of the state of Virginia. He was preceded in death by his parents; one sister, Mildred Panapinta; and one brother, William Bates.

A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, March 31, at Ferry Funeral Home in Nevada. A committal service will follow in Moore Cemetery, Nevada. Friends may call now and until the hour of service at the funeral home.

View obituary and send condolences on line at www.ferryfuneralhome.com