James "Jim" Talbert Bates

James (Jim) Talbert Bates was born in Childress County on November 7, 1944 to farmers Lucy Earnestine Hunt Bates and Charles Talbert Bates. The family later moved to Clarendon, TX, where James graduated from Clarendon High School in 1963. He later graduated from Texas Tech University and then joined the United States Air Force followed by a long career as a Certified Public Accountant. While stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Jim met his sweetheart, Rita Pate on a blind date set up by a friend. Jim was taken by Rita’s charm, and they married a year later and started their 47-year journey together at their residence on Finley Drive in Shreveport.

Jim was a very giving person. He set up a charitable trust through the family farm to benefit organizations in Clarendon that ministered to his father and mother when they were alive. He and Rita were very active members of the Bossier Civitan Club and travelled to many national conventions together. Jim, along with Rita, was also a volunteer with Special Olympics. He was an avid bird hunter and enjoyed the sport with his brother-in-law Robby Pate. He traveled to many different places before his health prevented him from this loved past time.

If anyone truly knew the “joy of accounting”, it was Jim. He was affectionately known around the office as “Mr. Bates”—not due to formality, but due to the great respect that he earned through his more than 50 years in public accounting. After serving his country in the United States Air Force, processing payroll for the troops at Barksdale AFB, he went to work for Mr. Cook who had a public accounting firm in Bossier City. With great diligence, Mr. Bates sought and achieved the CPA designation in 1977. With the support of Rita, he set out on his own at his office on Barksdale Boulevard operating as a sole proprietor. In 2001 he met Marcy Murray who turned out to be a CPA kindred spirit in “the joy of accounting”. Together they formed a partnership, Bates, Murray & Company CPAs, and with the help of many co-workers through the years—especially Heather Breen—their client base grew serving clients in a personal and caring environment in his same office of over forty years. Mr. Bates touched many lives in his practice. He took great pride in his CPA designation and his ability to help people, especially in their most vulnerable times in their lives. Even at the age of eighty, most days you could find him working at his desk. Mr. Bates served generations of families right up to the day of his passing.

Jim was preceded in death by “Miss Rita.” Also by his mother and father, Earnestine and CT Bates as well as his brother, Charles Bates and his sister, Opal Williams and brother-in-law Robby Pate.

Surviving Jim is one nephew and 4 nieces as well as Marcy Murray and his work family.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made to a charity of your choice in memory of James Bates. This is a way to honor their legacy and support a cause that was close to their heart.