Jessie Mae (Starks) Bates

Jessie Bates was born March 16, 1926 in Anderson, South Carolina, to the late John B. Starks and Mary Brown Starks.  She departed this life on November 30, 2020 at her daughters home in Goose Creek, South Carolina.

Jessie married the love of her life, Charles “Charlie” Bates on May 17, 1946.  They celebrated over sixty-eight years of marriage prior to his death on June 24, 2014.  Jessie and Charlie had three children.  Their son Charles Bates Jr. preceded them in death on April 1, 1999.

Jessie attended public school in Anderson and accepted Jesus as her personal savior at an early age.  She was a member of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Portsmouth, Virginia for more than forty years.  While there, she served in the ladies choir and in the ladies auxiliary organization.  She moved to Manassas, Virginia in 2001 and united with First Mount Zion Baptist Church in February 2005.

Jessie worked several years for the Chesapeake Public School System, Chesapeake, Virginia as a school bus driver.  She was later employed as a television assembly operator for the General Electric Company in Portsmouth, Virginia.  Jessie loved to sew and was a self taught seamstress, making most of her own cloths and some items for a select few.  One of her major accomplishments was sewing choir robes for the Ebenezer Baptist Church Women’s Choir. 

Jessie leaves to cherish her memories, her daughter, Patricia Bates Dunn of North Charleston, South Carolina; her son, Thomas, (Yvonne) Bates, of Warrenton, Virginia.  Also, surviving, are seven grandchildren, fifteen great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild, and a host of relatives and friends.

Due to the current attendance limitations, the funeral services will be private.
 
Interment will be in Stonewall Memory Gardens, Manassas, VA.

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