Ernest Pleasants Gates

GATES, Ernest Pleasants, 94, passed away on June 18, 2018. He was the beloved husband of the late Virginia Guy Yonce Gates. The youngest of five children, born on June 16, 1924, to Ida Mae Heath Gates and Ordway Benjamin Gates; Ernest was preceded in death by his sister Alice Gates Goodman and his brother, O. B. Gates, Jr. and two siblings who died in infancy. Survivors include his cherished six children and their spouses, fifteen grandsons, one granddaughter, six great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Ernest, or “Mush,” as he was fondly called by many, was a faithful husband, father and friend. His immediate family includes: William “Bill” Mayo Gates (Kathy) and their children Brian Carroll, Grant Carroll, Daniel Gustin Gates, (Juna), their son (Jefferson Muir Gates), and William Thomas Gates. Ernest “Rusty” Pleasants Gates, Jr. (Avis) and their sons Benjamin Heath Gates (Lindsey), their children (Benjamin Heath Gates II and Olivia Belle Gates), and Charles Harvey Gates (Jennifer). David Heath Gates (Mary Kay) and their three sons David Heath Gates, Jr. (Beatrice) and their daughters (Virginia Catherine Gates and Johanna Rose Gates), Patrick Mayo Gates (Karen) and Matthew Flynn-Mahon Gates (Abby). Elizabeth “Betsy” Williams Gates Moore, (Bill) and their three children John Thomas Moore, William Spurr Moore, Jr. and Virginia Elizabeth “Liza” Gates Moore. Virginia “Gini” Morehead Gates DiStanislao (Phil) and their two sons Phillip Thomas Distanislao, III (Elizabeth), their son, (Phillip Thomas DiStanislao IV) and William Andrew DiStanislao. Thomas Bass Gates (Kathy) and their two sons Joshua “Josh” MaGhee Varner Gates and Thomas “TJ” Bass Gates, Jr.

Ernest grew up in Chesterfield, Virginia and attended Hampden-Sydney College. During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Navy and was retired on September 1, 1946 as Lt. Junior Grade, having been wounded off Okinawa in combat. He was a Purple Heart recipient. He was graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1947 and received his Juris Doctorate from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1950. On August 18, 1951, he married the love of his life, Virginia “Gee Gee” Yonce. They lived in Chester, Virginia, where he practiced law and was soon elected Commonwealth’s Attorney in Chesterfield County and, based upon his integrity, character, and mastery of the law, was later chosen by the General Assembly of Virginia to be a Circuit Court Judge in 1966 until he retired in 1987. However, he continued to sit on the bench around the state as Designated Circuit Court Judge until 2012, when he “re-retired” to look after Gee Gee.

Gee Gee and Ernest raised their children at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Chester, where he served as an Education for Ministry Mentor, Sunday School teacher, lay reader, chalice bearer, vestry member and Junior and Senior Warden and chaired the re-building of the church after it was destroyed by fire in 1976. He also served on the Mission Board, Race Commission, Council Delegate and the Executive Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia. The Judge loved hunting, fishing and golf. He was always happy sailing and vacationing at Wrightsville Beach and Figure Eight Island, NC, traveling the Intracoastal Waterway with Gee Gee and their friends the Russells on their sailboat, Bright Hope, and tailgating at Hampden-Sydney football games. They spent their later years on Woodland Pond, with his beloved dogs, tending to an expanding family of grandchildren, and later moving to The Hermitage at Cedarfield.

Judge Gates was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Henricus Foundation and Vice-chairman for many years, Past President of the Eppington Foundation, President of the Society of the Descendants of Francis Epes I. He was proud to be a Master Mason with the Chester Masonic Lodge #94 for over 66 years. He served on the Board of Visitors of Longwood College as Vice Rector and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sydney College, as well as a recipient of the Patrick Henry Award from Hampden-Sydney College in recognition of Distinguished Service to the People of Virginia. Gates was also a Founder and First President of the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia, Former Secretary and Treasurer, and President of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Association of Virginia, Fifty year member of the Bar Association of the City of Richmond. He was Founder and former President of the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Bar Association, a Fifty year member of the Virginia Bar Association and a Fifty year member of the Virginia State Bar and a former member of its Council and Executive Committee. Gates served as Chairman of the Voluntary Sentencing Guidelines Committee of the Judicial Conference of Virginia 1985-1991 and was elected by the General Assembly as Chairman of the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission 1991-2001.

Ernest Gates loved God, his family and his fellow man and it has been said that everyone but the guilty adored him.

A Visitation will be held at the Old Chesterfield Court House on Route 10 on Wednesday, June 27 6-8pm. A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2pm on Thursday, June 28 at St. John's Episcopal Church, 12201 Richmond Street, Chester, VA 23831. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. John's (Chester) Episcopal Church or The Ernest P. and Virginia Y. Gates Scholarship Endowment Fund at Hampden-Sydney College, VA 23943.