Charlcie Cates

(From Ozark Funeral Home)

Charlcie Queen Cates, 98, died January 1, 2018, at Cox Medical Center in Springfield, Mo., from complications following a cerebral hemorrhage.

Charlcie was born September 23, 1919, in Sheffield, Ala., to John Fell and Nora Fell. The Fell family moved to the Puyallup, Wash., area in the late 1930s. Charlcie met Howard A. Cates in Puyallup, through her brother, Marcus. The couple married on September 3, 1940.

Howard was in the U.S. Army Air Corps, later the U.S. Air Force, and the couple moved many times during their military career, eventually coming home to McDonald County, Mo., living outside Noel, Mo.

After retirement, Howard served as U.S. Postmaster at Noel for 16 years, while Charlcie raised their seven children and was active in many community endeavors. She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Noel, a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, the Noel Women’s Club, and the Pandora Club, a ladies’ group. Charlcie was a talented writer, and attended college classes at Crowder College in Neosho. She was a student of astrology and yoga and had a close, spiritual relationship with God.

Charlcie worked for several years at the Ben Franklin Store in Noel after Howard retired. She was a skilled seamstress and quilter, and loved working in her garden, where she grew many things, but especially tea roses.

Howard died in 1988, and in 1993 Charlcie moved to Blackfoot, Idaho, with a companion and best friend, Fred K. Merrell. In 2006 she and Fred came back to Missouri and bought a home in Neosho. Fred died in 2011, and Charlcie sold the house and moved to Joplin in 2014.

Charlcie moved to Crane, Mo. In September, 2017, to be close to her daughters.

In addition to her husband, parents, and Fred, Charlcie was preceded in death by a daughter, Charlcie L. Millsap, in 2010.

She is survived by three sons, Allen E. Cates (Lucette) of Lafayette, La., Jerry H. Cates (Janet) of Round Rock, Texas, and John M. Cates (Jong) of Chiang Rai, Thailand; three daughters, Elizabeth A. Oakes (William) of Crane., Mo., and Brenda J. Kaup (Michael), also of Crane, and Martha J. Serna (Pete), of Humble, Texas. Local grandchildren who survive her include Steven Craig Peck (Alexandra) and family of Noel, and Desara Kilby Short (Donald) and family of Granby, Mo. In addition, she is survived by numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and grand nieces and nephews who live all over the globe, and more friends than she could count.

Final arrangements are under the care of Ozark Funeral Home, Anderson, Mo. No formal services are planned, but the family will meet at a later date for a memorial service at her final resting place, next to her late husband Howard Cates, her mother, Nora Fell, and her daughter, Charlcie Louise Millsap in Noel Cemetery.