Aubrey Cates

Aubrey Cates, 94, of Waco, died Thursday evening, May 26, 2016 at Providence Hospital. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m., Wednesday, June 1, at OakCrest Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday evening May 31, at the funeral home.

Aubrey was born November 5, 1921 in Kaufman County, Texas to the late Hiram Ples and Minnie May Bright Cates. He grew up on the family farm and graduated from Kaufman High School. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Aubrey volunteered for service in the armed forces and on May5, 1942, was sworn in as a cadet in the United State Air Corps (U. S. Air Force today) and entered active duty as a Second Lieutenant June 30, 1943.

Aubrey married Myrtle Alice (Ann) Allaire in November 1943. Trained as a B24 heavy bomber pilot within the Eight Army Air Corp’s 448th Bomb group, Aubrey ferried his B25 and crew to England, arriving on March 22, 1944, where he was stationed in Norwich. He piloted 31 missions over enemy territory and returned to the states September 4, 1944.

Following discharge, Mr. Cates joined William Cameron Company in Hawkins, Texas and ultimately his career with the Cameron company led him to Waco, in 1967, having relocated from San Angelo, Texas. After a series of acquisitions of his division, Aubrey retired with Lowe’s in 1983.

Upon retirement, Aubrey and Ann travelled and enjoyed their children and grandchildren. Ann was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1997 and ultimately surrendered to the disease upon her death August 17, 2010. Aubrey was her care giver, managed her health and was at her side when she passed away.
Aubrey is survived by his daughter, Mary Cates of Dallas; sons, Larry and his wife, Colleen, also of Dallas, Michael and his wife Joan, of Roanoke, Va., and Steve and his wife, Darlene, of Waco; and his sister, Dorothy Stripling of Dallas, He Also leaves 19 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be Chris Cates, Curtis Cates, Jacob Cates, Brandon McDonald, Erik Woodling and Brian Emerson. Honorary pallbearers will be Don Andretta and Chris Vonderhoya.
The family expressed a special thank you to Dr. James Hodges, Providence Health Care Network, and Aubrey’s private nurses for their care for him.

In Lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Disease Research, 22512 Gateway Center Drive, Clarksburg, Md.20871 at http://www.brightfocus.org/alzheimers.