Norman Bates

Norman passed peacefully to his heavenly home on July 22, 2025 in his Treynor, IA home with his wife, Carole and son Eric, close by. Norman was born on October 11, 1932, the ninth child in a family of twelve to Bert and Nellie (Peck) Bates in their farm home west of Griswold, IA.

In 1936, the family relocated to Council Bluffs due to drought and depression of the economy. It was there that Norman and his two closest brothers, Duane and Dick attended Madison Avenue School and later moved to the west end where they worked in the onion fields in the summer and played around Big Lake in the hills there. They attended Roosevelt School until the family moved to their grandfather's farm east of Oakland, IA. Norman began 8th grade in the Oakland school and participated in high school sports including football, basketball and baseball, all while helping on the farm, milking cows before and after school, caring for hogs and tending his mother's garden. After graduating from high school, he continued farming for a few years as well as working construction in Council Bluffs and Omaha with his brothers. In 1956 he attended Radio Engineering Institute in Omaha graduating in 1958. It was while he was there that he met Carole Harlan and they were married in 1959 and relocated to El Paso, TX where he taught electronics for the Army at Ft. Bliss. After several years they moved back to Council Bluffs to raise their sons, Eric and later John. Norm built houses with his brother Duane for several years and finished his working career at Jennie Edmundson Hospital in the Engineering Dept retiring after 25 years. During those years he also built two houses for his family, the last being in Treynor where they have lived for 53 years.

In retirement he and Carole took several cruises, bus trips and road trips to Michigan and some winter time in Arizona. Several mission trips to Florida and Arizona were the highlights of their retirement years where he could lend his building expertise. Lots of trips across Iowa to watch Amanda and Meridyth's volleyball games were also in the mix. For 25 years he made the trip to Arizona and back over a long weekend making sure his mother-in-law got to her winter home and back, fixing what needed fixing for her and usually two or more of her friends while he was there and then back to work at Jennie Ed.

There seemed to be nothing he couldn't repair be it electrical, mechanical, or construction which was a blessing to his family. He fixed many cars, furnaces, plumbing or electrical problems by telephone for the boys over the years. His expertise will be sorely missed.

He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Bob, Floyd, Jimmie, Duane, Dickie and Donnie and sisters Evelyn Hunter, Annie Stephunn, Juanita Graham and Shirley Frizzell, brothers-in law and sisters-in law. Surviving is his wife of 66 years, Carole, sons Eric and John (Carol) Bates, grandchildren, Amanda (Shawn) Echols, Meridyth (Nathan) Aragon, Kelsey Yoder, Adam (Cassie) Yoder, great grandchildren, Emery and Jaxon, Camila and Isabella, and Imani. Also surviving are sister Bonnie Allen, sisters-in-law Jeannie Bates and Betty Bates, cousins, nieces and nephews, FCC friends and many others.

Memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 26, 2025, at the Hoy-Kilnoski Funeral Home. Visitation will be during the hour prior to the service. The family wishes to thank Hillcrest Hospice for their tender care of Norman for the past two weeks of his life. Memorials may be directed to First Christian Church and/or Treynor Fire and Rescue.