Henry Yates

Henry B. Yates, 88, passed away at Houston Medical Center, Warner Robins, Georgia on July 30, 2011. Henry was born on March 23, 1923 to Fred and Stella (nee Counts) Yates in Fremont, Virginia. He was the third child of nine children. Henry graduated from Clintwood High School (Virginia) and attended both Berea College and the University of Dayton. It was at Berea that he met his future wife Jessie (Nee Gregory) and they married on September 27, 1943.

Henry is a member of the "Greatest Generation: having grown up in the Great Depression and served his country as a First Lieutenant and B-17 pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Henry piloted his B-17 in the European Theater and earned the Army Air Medal and Purple Heart for returning his crew and plane safely to base following a direct air artillery attack in which he was gravely injured. He retired from the military in 1945.

Henry had a long and successful civilian career supporting the military operations at the Defense Electronics Supply Center in Dayton, Ohio where he rose to Chief of Department for Analysis and Planning. Henry was an avid golfer for over 45 years achieving a hole-in one and was able to shoot his age (79) in 2002. Henry will be remembered by all who knew him and loved him as a complete provider and protector of his family, a wise, gentle, kind and deeply caring husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend to many.

Henry is survived by this wife of over 67 years, Jessie Yates who resides at Summerhill Nursing Home, Perry, Georgia; their daughter Pamela J. Yates and her husband Ralph of Warner Robins; their son James H. Yates and his partner Sheri A. Lippowitsch of New York City; their grandsons Matthew Altmeyer and Fred Yates of Warner Robins; their granddaughters, Erin Altmeyer of Milledgeville and Michanne Yates of Savannah, Georgia; two sisters, Madge Sexton of Kingsport, Tennessee and Clara Mullins of Anderson, Indiana; and one brother, James Yates of High Point, North Carolina.

Visitation will be Tuesday, August 2, 2011 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at McCullough Funeral Home. Funeral Services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 in the chapel of McCullough Funeral Home with interment following in Magnolia Park Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully suggests memorial donations to Vista Care Hospice 319 Margie Drive Warner Robins, Georgia 31088.


Funeral Home:
McCullough Funeral Home
417 S. Houston Lake Rd.
Warner Robins, GA
US 31088