Keeping a Big Family Connected

The South Dakota Connection of the Gates Family

             Claudia Rae Gates Lentz, the oldest daughter of Jim and Lou Dixon Gates, was born on March 7. Her father was serving in the Air Force and stationed in Rapid City, South Dakota, at Rapid City Air Base where the B-36 Peacemaker was based. During Jim’s stint there, President Dwight W. Eisenhower came for the dedication and renaming of the base. It became Ellsworth Air Base, in honor of the commander of the base who had been killed along with a crew of over 20 airmen on a training mission.*

                Ron Bledsoe, my eldest cousin on the Gates side, recalled a trip his family took to South Dakota when he was around 11 years old. His father, Harry Bledsoe drove from Oklahoma City to Grand Rapids. Ella Gates Bledsoe, Ron’s mother, spearheaded the trip to see her baby brother, Jim and his family. Ron’s seven-year-old sister, Mary Beth, anticipated meeting a new cousin.

                Jim and Lou had established a loving home on his enlistment salary in a tiny apartment for little Claudia. Lou worked for Buckingham Trucking Company as a keypunch operator. (She worked until Claudia’s birth. The company requested she return after her maternity leave, but she and Jim were already Oklahoma bound!)

What a wonderful example of thriftiness, creativity, and commitment on Lou’s part to take a challenging budgeting situation and as my father would say, “make a go of it.” Lou was only nineteen years old and living three states away from home and any family support!

                Ron remembered transversing the Mount Rushmore state to visit another of his mother’s brothers, Jess. Jess, Vesta, his wife, and four of their children also lived in South Dakota on their farm. Ron and Mary Beth anticipated seeing their cousins – Lynda, age 8, Phillip, age 6, Brenda, age 3, and the baby at the time, Debbie.

                Claudia’s parents recalled their move to Oklahoma from South Dakota with Claudia. They had converted the back seat of their car into a play area for little Claudia as they traveled back to Oklahoma. Jim and Lou strategically stacked and packed their luggage level, draping a sheet over it to make a playpen for her. The seven-month old cutie stayed entertained during most of the lengthy trip.

Jim, Lou, and Claudia Gates - taken soon
after they moved to the Big Bend. (photo
from the collection of Bernyce Gates)

Jim’s older brother, Herb with his wife, Billie, and their little son, Steve, came to help them move. Herb had a new pickup that he was itching to use to haul Jim and Lou’s furniture.

Lou, Jim, and Claudia settled on a place owned by Reid Morris west of the Woodland School in the Big Bend. Jim kept Mr. Morris’s cattle watered as payment for their rent. (Descendents of Reid and Opal Morris continue to live in the area with one of their great grandsons serving Pawnee County as sheriff.)
Herb, Billie, and Steve, age 2, stayed with them for a short time after their second son, Mark, was born in 1954. Dr. Spaulding even made a house call to see Billie during those days. Lou recalled the fun of watching Steve pull Claudia’s little red wagon around the yard.

                Family ties were important to Ella, Jim, Jess, and Herb. Claudia grew up to become the driving force in keeping the Gates family connections strong for over 27 years with her organization of the annual summer reunion.

                Several years ago Claudia created a written history of births, marriages, and deaths of each descendent of my grandparents, Edmund, Sr. and Mamie Irene. Her collection of this valuable information has been a “go-to” document when verifying information I have heard or been given. How often I have been grateful for her commitment to record vital family facts.

                My father used frequently the phrase “time marches on.” I have discovered memories dim, recollections are revised, and unforgettable photograph information fades “as time marches on” unless documentation is done. Every family needs to engage in some form of recording family memories – whether videos of family storytelling, handwritten remembrances, or simply photographs with brief explanations – and the sooner the better. If it is a multi-generational endeavor, the benefits reaped from the time spent together will prove to be priceless.

Some of  the grandchildren of Edmund, Sr. and Mamie Gates taken at a reunion
in the 1980s. Seated on the floor: Mark Gates, Janie Gates, Tim Gates, Lynda
Gates, and Steve Gates. Seated - 2nd Row - Stacey Gates, Angie Gates, Mamie
Tripp Gates, Mary Beth Bledsoe, Bernadean Gates, Debbie Gates, Brenda Gates.
Standing: Ron Bledsoe, Tracey Gates, Jim Gates, Bernie Mastagni, Patsy
Mastagni, Claudia Gates, Phillip Gates, and Daniel Edmund Newland.

Happy birthday, Claudia!

*Source:

http://blackhillsknowledgenetwork.org/black-hills/community-history/9602-ellsworth-air-force-base-story-spans-flying-fortresses-nuclear-missiles-and-drones#.VtI_dH0rKt8