Family

Bates (family)

Stanley Allen Bates (1925-1997) and his wife Frances Elizabeth (1923-1984) farmed in South Delta on 34B Avenue (Parmiter Road) from 1950 to the mid 1970s. Both Allen and Frances (nee Brandrith) were children of farming families that had settled early in Delta. Allen's father, Ray H. Bates (1889-1980), arrived in Delta in 1911, working for the Burns Ranch and then leasing a farm with his brother Horatio on 64th Avenue from W. Skinner. Ray married Evelyn Elizabeth Reynolds in 1922, and shortly after, Ray acquired his own farm on Parmiter Road. Ray and Evelyn had two children, George and Allen, Allen eventually taking over operation of the family farm when Ray and Evelyn retired to Ladner in 1950. In 1969 the Bates farm was expropriated by the province for the building of the Roberts Bank Superport. The Bates family continued to farm the property on 34B Avenue through a lease arrangement. Frances Bates' grandparents, William James and Rachel Jefferson Brandrith, settled on a South Delta farm in 1904. Frances' father, Winfred John (1894-1957), was one of 12 children. John married Elizabeth Margaret Gunn (1895-1992) in 1920 and they farmed one of the Brandrith properties until 1956 when the farm was sold to accomodate the urban expansion of Tsawwassen. Their daughter Frances married Allen Bates in 1949. Frances and Allen were active in the Delta community through their memberships in the United Church, and in agricultural organizations such as the Delta Farmers Institute, Canadian Clydesdale Horse Association and Fraser Valley Milk Producers Association. Frances helped found the Delta Museum, participating on the executive board of the Delta Museum and Historical Society, volunteering on many museum communities, and donating her collection of artifacts and historic information to the museum. Frances and Allen had four sons, Ken, Jack, Bill and George.