Louis Byron Gates, 88

Louis Byron Gates, 88, passed away on Wednesday, April 13, 2011, at Brendan House in Kalispell.

He was born Sept. 25, 1922, in Arco, Idaho, to George and Evangeline (Harkness) Gates.

Lou attended elementary school in Butte and Glasgow, and high school in Bigfork and Fort Peck, graduating from Fort Peck in 1940, when he enlisted in Company G, 163rd Infantry Regiment, 41st Division, Montana National Guard. The guard was inducted into national service Sept. 16, 1940, in response to the threat of war in Europe. Lou was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., for training and spent the next 39 months in the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations.

After his discharge from the Army on June 24, 1945, he returned to Washington and married his fiancée, Maxine Love, on June 30, 1945. They moved to Bozeman, where Lou enrolled in Montana State College to study civil engineering, and where their daughter Pamela was born.

After college he went to work for the Bureau of Reclamation at Hungry Horse Dam, where their second daughter, Gretchen, was born. Upon completion of the dam, he transferred to the U.S. Forest Service, where he served in Kalispell; Butte; Placerville, Calif.; San Francisco and Saint Maries, Idaho. He retired on June 30, 1973.

Lou and Maxine moved to Bigfork to join his mother's business, Eva Gates Homemade Preserves. Lou and Maxine divorced in 1977.

He joined A.A. in 1977 and was very proud that he conquered his addiction. He met Clarice Maas Ost and they married on May 5, 1979, in Kalispell, where they had lived happily until his death.

Lou transcribed journals that his father, George, wrote while being held prisoner of war in a Japanese prison camp. This sparked an interest in both Lou and Clarice, who worked as a team compiling family trees for both sides of their families. Relatives and friends helped identify family photos, and photo books were made for Lou’s side of the family. As a research team, Lou and Clarice helped compile information about students from two rural schools in the Flathead Valley. 

Lou loved working in his shop, building items for the house and gifts for family and friends. He was also known for his letters to the editor of the Daily Inter Lake.

Lou was preceded in death by his brother, George Warren Gates; his parents, George and Eva Gates; his sister, Naomi Knievel; and daughter, Pamela Gates Siess.

Lou is survived by his wife, Clarice Gates; daughter, Gretchen Gates; grandchildren, Job Sun, Kristan Siess, Curtis Siess and Cary Siess; and three great-grandchildren; as well as his stepdaughter, Brenda Ost; stepgrandchildren, Jeremy Turner and Jennifer Williams; and six stepgreat-grandchildren.

Cremation has taken place and at Lou’s request, there will be no service.

Memorials can be made to Home Options Hospice, 430 Windward Way, Suite 101, Kalispell, MT 59901.

Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home is caring for Lou’s family. You are invited to go to www.jgfuneralhome.com to offer condolences and view Lou’s tribute wall.