Bill Gates efforts in 2016, and François Hollande awarded Bill and Melinda in the following year with France's highest national award – the Legion of Honour for their charity efforts. Entomologists named Bill Gates' flower fly, ", in his honor in 1997. Gates married Melinda French on a golf course on the Hawaiian island of Lanai on January 1, 1994; he was 38 and she was 29. They have three children: Jennifer Katharine (b. 1996), Rory John (b. 1999), and Phoebe Adele (b. 2002). Gates' oldest daughter Jennifer is an equestrian rider who competed in the 2018 Longines Global Champions Tour. The
USS Thomas S. Gates Anne Gates, widow of the ship's namesake. "Thomas S. Gates" was launched 14 December 1985, purchased 22 June 1987, and was commissioned 22 August 1987, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Captain Robert Sutton in command. "Thomas S. Gates"' maiden deployment was from 31 May 1989 to 10 November 1989. After transiting to the Mediterranean Sea as part of the battle group formed around the aircraft carrier , "Thomas S. Gates" in-chopped to the Sixth Fleet on 10 June 1989; she participated in Operation National Week (10–19 June 1989), conducting turnover with the guided missile cruiser at Augusta Bay, Sicily (15 June).