The Reverend William Dawson Bates passed away at Deer Lodge Centre after a lengthy illness on January 31, 2011, in his 88th year. Bill will be lovingly remembered by June, his wife of 55 years, his two daughters and their husbands, Barbara and Gordon McFarlane and Valerie and Neil Gamey, and his grandchildren, Christine and Matthew McFarlane and Wade, Todd, and Dean Gamey, his sister Muriel and many nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by his mother and father, Jean and Cyril Bates, sisters Nora, Betty and Helen, his brother David and a baby daughter Allison Jean.

Bill was born in Dauphin, Manitoba in 1923. He served in the R.C.A.F. as a pilot during World War II. Following the war, he attended St. John's College and the University of Manitoba before graduating from Wycliffe College, Toronto and being ordained an Anglican Priest in 1955. He served God as Parish Priest and Hospital Chaplain in the Diocese of Calgary until 1967.

Following two years of study at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, where he obtained a Masters degree in Psychology, he and his family returned to Manitoba. He then worked for 19 years at the Manitoba Developmental Centre in Portage la Prairie and served as Honourary Assistant at St. Margaret's Anglican Church until 2001.

He was a member of: the Board of the Canadian Bible Society MB, the Pilots and Observers Association of Manitoba, the Manitoba Follow Up Study for WWII pilots, 500 (City of Winnipeg) Wing Air Force Association, as well as a Life member of the British and Commonwealth Air Museum.

Cremation has taken place. The funeral service will be held at St. Margaret's Anglican Church, Westminster Avenue and Ethelbert Street on Saturday, February 5th, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. Interment will take place at a later date in the family plot in Queen's Park Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta.

If friends so desire, donations may be made to St. Margaret's Anglican Church, the Canadian Bible Society (MB), Wycliffe College, Toronto, Ontario or a charity of their choice.