Berton "Bert" Hubert Gates, Jr.

Berton Hubert “Bert” Gates, Jr., of Groesbeck, passed away at Hillcrest Hospital in Waco on Sunday, October 6, 2019, at age 59.

A Memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 26, 2019 at Victory Baptist Church, Groesbeck. 

Bert was born December 29, 1959 in Houston to Berton Hubert Gates, Sr. and Ruth Ringgold Gates.   He grew up in Houston and attended Milby High School, and later attended Houston Community College Police Academy to be certified as a peace officer.   He and his family moved to Mart for his first job as a peace officer, and then he moved the family to a farm in Thiefneck near Donie twenty-eight years ago, where he finished raising his children.

He worked in law enforcement for 19 years, for Mart Police Department, then Limestone County Sheriff’s Department, and after that, the Mexia Police Department.   He later was self-employed in various types of work.

Bert loved to fish, with his children as they were growing up, and later with his sister, Rose.  Bert never met a stranger and was known in the community as a friendly, kind-hearted man.   He was very much a Grandpa to his grandchildren and loved by all the family.   He was a survivor of colon cancer and pronounced cancer-free in March 2018.  He will be dearly missed after his very unexpected death.  

Bert was preceded in death by his father, Berton Gates, Sr.; brother-in-law, James Davenport; and brother-in-law, Jesse Mashaw; and his former wife-mother of his children-and friend, Sandra Gates.

He is survived by his mother, Ruth Gates of West Columbia; son and daughter-in-law, Berton Gates, III and Tiffany of Merkel; daughter, Brittany Bain and her fiancé, Kyle Tones of Willis; 9 grandchildren;  sister, Barbara Davenport of West Columbia; sister and brother-in-law, Mary and Jerry Shepherd of Midlothian; sister, Rose Mashaw of Groesbeck; and many nieces and nephews.