Supplements

CURRENT ISSUE

Deacon john coates dies april 2 at home

Story and photo by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Deacon John E. Coates died April 2 at his home in East St. Louis. He was 80 years old.

A quiet, gentle, prayerful man, Deacon Coates was one of 14 men ordained permanent deacons in April 1997 by then-Bishop Wilton Gregory.

Fellow deacons and friends remember him and his ministry.

Fellow deacon, Ron Karcher, said Deacon Coates joined him in prison ministry for about four years.
During the monthly prison visits, Deacon Coates led a group of inmates through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and prepared them for baptism and confirmation.

“We always prayed the rosary going and coming back,” Deacon Karcher said.And although Deacon Coates stopped going to the prison two years ago, “people at the prison still ask about him,” Deacon Karcher said.

Deacon Coates served his parish of St. Patrick’s in East St. Louis before it was closed, and then-paster, Father Clyde Grogan described him as “committed to his faith and to serving other people.”

Father Grogan also said, as an educator, Deacon Coates remained a student, taking classes at Xavier University in New Orleans, La., after his ordination, to help him with preaching. “He was always willing to learn,” Father Grogan said.

Deacon Don Deitz, also ordained in the class of 1997, said he and Deacon Coates were close.
“He loved his family; he was smart; but he didn’t speak out much,” Deacon Deitz said. “I’ll miss him and the sharing we did.”

Deacon Coates was the son of a Baptist minister but converted to the Catholic faith at an early age. He was a teacher, a business owner and a family man.

Bishop Edward K. Braxton was principal celebrant and homilist at hi funeral April 9 at St. Augustine of Hippo in East St. Louis, which was also his 81st birthday.

The church was filled with his family, friends and many deacons who knew him.
He was preceded in death by his parents, “Peter and Henrietta Coates, his siblings, Lawrence, Jewel, Aubrey, Helen and Peter Coates Jr.

He is survived by his wife, Betty Mae Brown Coates; four daughters: Virginia Coates, Tency (Robert) Hodges, Alexis (Willie) Coates Sanders, and Beretta (Wayne) Gully; a sister, Edith (Robert) Blackburn; a brother, James (Zinnia) Coates; grandchildren, great-grandchildren, one brother-in-law, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Interment was at Jefferson Barracks Cemetery in St. Louis.