He was born in Winchester, Virginia on September 14th, 1934, the son of Holmes and Edith
Oates. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Tootie; his son A. Brooke Oates (Virginia Beach,
VA); his daughter Laura Ahart (Fuquay-Varina, NC); two stepdaughters Shari Schneider
(Midlothian, VA) and Cami Claveau (Roswell, GA); eight grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.
Al was a graduate of the Handley High School Class of 1952, of which he was the Class
President for four years. He graduated Cum Laude from Shepherd College in 1956 with
degrees in Business Administration and Business Education. While at Shepherd, he was
President of the Student Senate, a member of Kappa Delta Phi, and named to Who’s Who of
American Colleges. Following his graduation, he taught business courses at Handley High
School.
Al proudly served his country and graduated from Marine Corp Officer Candidate School. He
attained the rank of Captain while serving with the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, NC.
During his 36 year telecommunication career, which began with C&P Telephone, he held
numerous managerial positions with Bell Atlantic, Verizon, AT&T and MCI.
He participated in local sports, as well as coaching Little League and Pony League teams,
including coaching his son’s team all the way to the city-wide championship. He officiated both
basketball and football while a member of the Virginia High School Officials Association, and
was elected to the Winchester Fast Pitch League Hall of Fame.
Al was a player/manager of the Cork Street Church softball team, which attained many
achievements. It was the first church league team to participate in state-wide tournaments, and
the first to challenge and defeat a city-league team in an 18 inning game that was the longest
ever played at Jim Barrett Park. Under his leadership, he raised money through various
fundraising events to secure sponsorship from local merchants to make Cork Street the first
church team to be completely uniformed.
Upon retiring to Florida, Al was an active and enthusiastic tennis player and held the Florida
state singles title for the Golden Age Games in 1999. He was on the Board of Directors of the
Lake Mary Tennis Center and served as it’s Chairman for four years.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa Florida, PO Box
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