James Robert Gates

James Robert Gates

James Robert Gates, 71, of Brookings, passed away Sept. 21, 2009, in Los Angeles, after a valiant battle against cancer.

Descended from grandparents who came West on the Santa Fe Trail, James was born May 12, 1938, in Las Vegas, N.M.

 After graduating from Wagon Mound High School in 1956, he joined the U.S. Army for three years, and attended the Army’s Signal School. He served as a Radar Repairman First Class.

After being discharged, James worked on the assembly line at Eberline Instrument Corporation in Santa Fe, N.M. He later moved to the southern part of the state, where he was employed by General Dynamics. As a radar technician, he took radar signatures of secret military missiles at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

It was there he met Jocelyn Alford at a square dance and married her June 22, 1968. The couple moved to Chicago after James earned a degree in Electrical Engineering at New Mexico State University in 1972. James worked for the Santa Fe Railway in both Chicago and Los Angeles as a Signal Engineer. 

The family then moved to Manassas, Va., in 1977, where James worked for De Leuw Cather. During this time James designed the signaling system for the North East Corridor, the Amtrak line that connects Washington, D.C., and Boston.

After working in Singapore, James and his family returned to the West Coast where he was employed in San Francisco by Rail Transportation Corp., later known as Systra USA, and most recently by B & C Transit Consultants, where he worked on the BART extensions.

After 36 years designing signal systems for both railroads and transit systems, James became one of only five or six men in the country with commanding expertise in this field. His knowledge and wisdom were actively sought out even when he tried to retire. The safety records of many transit systems in our big cities can be credited to James.

As a youth in New Mexico, he enjoyed hunting and square dancing with his dad as a caller. He enjoyed six years as scoutmaster of Troop 1182 in Manassas, Va.  One of the high points was serving as a Scoutmaster for the National Jamboree in 1986. Later in his spare time he enjoyed working on computers, woodworking and camping.

James is survived by his wife of 41 years Jocelyn Eleanor Alford Gates of Brookings;  son Robert Leon Gates of San Leandro, Calif.; daughter Rachel Maria Knauss of Brookings; son Christopher Tucker Gates of La Grande; sister Florence Lucero of Alamogordo, N.M.; brother Ralph Gates of Gold Beach; grandchildren Tyler Christopher Gates and Alaina Eleanor Gates.

He was preceded in death by his parents Leon and Clara Gates.

A service will be at  1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 17, at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, 401 Fir St. in Brookings. Interment will follow at W.J. Ward Memorial Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Community Food Share, P.O. Box 1415, Brookings, OR 97415

Submitted by Redwood Memorial Chapel.