Rhoda J. Fimple Cates

© Cheyenne Star

Submitted by: Wanda Purcell

Funeral services for Rhoda J. Cates, the mother of Mrs. J. R. {Sarena} Gilliland of Elk City, will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the Savage Funeral Home Chapel with Dr. J.C. Curry officiating.

Rhoda J. Fimple Cates was born August 14, 1896 in Whitman, Nevada, the daughter of James Robert and Melinda Jackson Fimple and died May 8, 1987 in Pike Peak Manor in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the age of 90.

She Fimple married William Newton Cates in 1913 in Cheyenne, Oklahoma. He preceded her in death in 1931.

Mrs. Cates lived in Leedey where she was a clerk in two grocery stores until 1936 when she moved to Weatherford. While living in Weatherford, she operated a boys' rooming house.

During World War II she moved to Los Angeles, California and worked for the Chrysler Motor Company. On returning to Oklahoma in 1947, she purchased the Seiling Theatre which she operated for 25 years. After Mrs. Cates retired, she moved to El Reno and lived there for six years. Her last four years where spent in the Winslow Court Retirement Home in Colorado Springs.

Rhoda Cates was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church of Colorado Springs.

She belonged to the W.S.C.S. In El Reno, and the Monday Afternoon Bridge Club of El Reno.

She is survived by two daughters, Iris {Mrs. Roy} Case of Colorado Springs and Sarena {Mrs. J.R.} Gilliland of Elk City; seven grandchildren; eighteen great grandchildren; two half-brothers, Jimmie R. Fimple of Colorado Springs and Rufus Fimple of Great Bend, Kansas; and one half-sister, Dollie of Sterling, Kansas.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and one daughter, Irene Stark.

Burial will be in Red Hill Cemetery, Hammon, Roger Mills County, Oklahoma under the direction of Savage Funeral Home.

Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, c/o Emma Jean Barton, Box 584, Elk City, Oklahoma 73648.

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