Mary H Gates

Mary Huntington Gates of Inverness, Florida died peacefully of natural causes while hiking alone along the Citrus County Wildlife Management Trails near her home on September 7, 2019. She was 94.
Mary was born on July 26, 1925 in Westport, Connecticut, the eldest daughter of Reverend Edmund Jayne Gates and Marjory Coley Gates. Most of her childhood was spent in Waterville, NY where she attended public school and was salutatorian of her class of 1943. Mary went on to graduate from Connecticut College for Girls in 1947; later she earned a master’s degree in special education from Stamford University, CA.
In the fall of 1954 Mary set out for California with her younger brother Roger. She made Pacific Grove on the Monterrey Peninsula her home and began her long career as a teacher and school administrator. Shortly after arriving in California she joined the Sierra Club—she would end up passing the sixty year mark with that organization—and threw herself into the strenuous, adventurous life she would always love: camping, hiking and canoeing in the wilderness. In summers during the 1960s and early 70s she led bicycle tours across Europe, often averaging one hundred miles a day, always staying in hostels at night. She remained a patron and passionate advocate of international hostels for the rest of her days.
After retirement Mary returned to her native upstate New York, living for a number of years in Oriskany Falls and then Clinton. She devoted much of her time to serving as a literacy volunteer, choosing to work in prisons in both New York State and in Florida. At the age 88 Mary packed up and set out again, this time for a place she had grown to love over the course of many years—Inverness, Florida.
Mary Gates was predeceased by three brothers, one sister and two sisters in law: Edmund J Gates Jr, Stephan Gates, David Gates, Barbara Gates Pattison, Phyllis Roberts Gates(wife Of Edmund) and Evangeline(Jill) Senior Gates(wife of Roger). She is survived by her brother Roger C. Gates of Clinton, NY and sister Catherine Gates Miller of Salem, Connecticut as well as eleven nieces and nephews. The Gates family wishes to express their enormous gratitude to many in Inverness who opened their hearts to Mary in her final years there and did so much to care for her, especially: Cindy Hines, Sandra and Arthur Coker, Janie and Billy Baker. The Chas. E. Davis Funeral Home with Crematory is assisting the family with Cremation Care arrangements.