Gates, Kimbal

Kimbal Gates, 88, died Monday evening, Sept. 2, 2013, at the Good Neighbor Home in Manchester surrounded by his family. Graveside services will be 11 a.m. Friday at the Hopkinton Cemetery, with military honors. Then, a life celebration service of memories and memorials will be held at 11 a.m. on Sunday at the Hopkinton Community Church, with a time of food and fellowship to follow. All are welcome to both services. The Goettsch Funeral Home, Hopkinton, is assisting the family. The Rev. Kim Gates and Pastor Cheryl Gates are officiating at the services. (If you have Hawkeye or John Deere apparel, please wear it to the graveside service.)

Thoughts, memories and condolences may be left at www.goettschonline.com.

The family requests no flowers. A memorial fund is being established.

Surviving are his wife, Shirley; four children, Lynne (Dennis) Rigel, Waterloo, Bill (Michelle) Gates, Dubuque, Gary (Cheryl) Gates, Hopkinton, and Kim Gates, Traer; seven grandchildren; four great-grandsons; and four nieces.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Robert; sister-in-law, Gayle, and a nephew, D.J. Gates.

Kimbal Allen Gates was born Feb. 26, 1925, at the family home in Washington, Iowa, the son of Leslie and Edith Nebergall Gates. He graduated from Washington High School in 1942. Kimbal farmed for a year before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in December 1943. He served in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He fought in battles on Guadalcanal and Okinawa. He was discharged from service in May 1946. In 1947, Kimbal spent a brief time working in a meat packing plant in Albany, Ore. On Dec. 1, 1947, Kimbal, his brother, Robert, and their father, Leslie, began operating Gates Implement in Kalona, Iowa, a John Deere and Chevrolet dealership. Kimbal married Shirley Dunlap on Sept. 19, 1948, in Washington, Iowa. The Gates family sold the business in Kalona in December 1957 and moved in 1958 to Hopkinton, where they farmed. Kimbal retired from active farming in 1984 and true retirement came in 1992. He kept busy doing woodworking, cutting wood and taking care of miles of fence.

Kimbal gave of his time off the farm as well. He was a church trustee, served on the Delaware County Extension Council, the Delaware County Memorial Hospital board, the Maquoketa Valley school board, and Volunteers in Mission. He helped build churches, schools and hospitals in Belize, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico and Antigua among others.

He also enjoyed traveling, spending time with his family, playing cards and board games and following the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Chicago Cubs.

The family would like to thank the doctors of Regional Medical Center, Above and Beyond Hospice and the staff at Good Neighbor Home Society.

Published Sept. 5, 2013 in The Gazette