BIOGRAPHY

Gates was born in Charleston, West Virginia, USA, on 6 April 1905, to parents Harry Lee Tully (1878–1954) and Lucy H. McIntosh (1881–1974). She had three siblings: Lillian, James Curtis (1909–1998) and Harry Atlee (1920–2008).

In the 1920s, she married James O’Dell and had one child with him, Norma O’Dell Hobbs (born 1927). She divorced her first husband and later married Louis “Fritz” Gates, who passed away in 1965. Gates worked for the Columbia Gas Company for over thirty years. For many years after her retirement, she served as a volunteer at the Women and Children’s Hospital in Charleston.

Gates passed away in Houston, Texas, USA, on 23 December 2017, at the age of 112 years, 261 days. She was survived by three granddaughters and three great-grandchildren.

RECOGNITION

On 5 December 2016, following the death of 112-year-old Corine Snow, she became the oldest (known) living person in the U.S. state of Texas.

At the time of death, she was the oldest living person in Texas, the oldest living person born in the state of West Virginia, and the second-oldest person ever born in West Virginia, after Ettie Mae Greene (1877–1992).

Her age was validated by LongeviQuest on 18 April 2023.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Hazel Gates (Tully)” – Charleston Gazette-Mail, 27 December 2017

* Hazel Gates – FindAGrave

GALLERY