—3— Whitney K. Bates, professor emeritus of history, born Feb. 4, 1921, in Brigham City, Utah, died on Dec. 9, 2006, after having been recently diagnosed with cancer. Professor Bates—generally known as “Whit” in the PSU community—joined the faculty in 1961 and retired as professor emeritus in 1986. Professor Bates attended public schools in Utah and Seattle before enrolling at the University of Washington, earning a history baccalaureate degree in June 1941. After a term of graduate study at UW, he joined the Navy and served as a commissioned officer from April 1942 until July 1946. During the Pacific islandhopping campaigns and invasions, he was assigned to fleet support vessels. He concluded wartime service as a commander of a large auxiliary supply ship. Upon returning to civilian life, Professor Bates met and, after a whirlwind courtship, married Emily Whiton in December 1946. Emily was a U.S. Army nurse who had just returned from duty in Europe. Emily died in 1999, and their sons, Charles and Thomas, survive their parents. At the University of Wisconsin, Professor Bates pursued graduate studies specializing in United States economic history, earning a master’s (1948) and a doctoral degree (1952). In 1949-50 he received a Social Science Research Council economic history fellowship. Concurrently he held academic research and teaching assistantships, and he served as an instructor at various University of Wisconsin units. From 1953 to 1961 he held teaching appointments as an instructor and lecturer at the University of Maryland. His on-going research interests focused on post-Revolutionary War financial speculation in state indebtedness. Professor Bates joined the Portland State College history faculty in 1961 as the institution was in the midst of transformation from a four-year college with a undergraduate curriculum into a comprehensive university. He actively participated in the process wherein the College’s departments expanded lower division offerings and devised appropriate upper division specialty courses to support this growth. For several years, in addition to teaching, Professor Bates performed administrative assistance for Dean George C. Hoffmann, chairman of the Social Science Division. Professor Bates’s responsibilities included orIn memoriam: Whitney K. Bates, 1921-2006 ganizing the curricular calendar to facilitate systematic scheduling of required courses. Likewise he oversaw student advising in order to provide efficient and effective support for the instructional program. Institutional growth coincided with significant academic governance developments, and throughout his career Professor Bates served on various appointed and elected academic committees. He regularly and emphatically voiced commentaries at Faculty Senate meetings presenting sensitive agenda issues, especially those concerning academic standards and faculty rights. As an active AAUP chapter member, he advocated its selection as the faculty collective bargaining agent and testified before the Oregon Legislature on behalf of equitable faculty salary adjustments. Professor Bates enjoyed a wide circle of campus friends. Early on, the Ferdinand Society invited him to membership and, upon retiring, he quickly joined RAPS. He regularly participated in both groups’ functions up to the time of his death. Soon after settling in Portland, he organized a professorial seven-person poker group that met monthly. Whitney last played poker with four remaining group members on Nov. 10. Ironically, the Ferdinand Society, also founded by a history professor, recently became defunct. Professor Bates enjoyed the outdoors and was skillful with a fishing rod. His gardening achievements included ornamental yard plants—especially roses— and specialty tomatoes. After a half century’s indulgence in pipe smoking, he withdrew from nicotine addiction by nibbling cinnamon sticks. On a personal level, Whitney’s elaborate, ritualistic pipe preparations inevitably fascinated me, a lifetime, dedicated nonsmoker. Moreover, Whitney and I shared an active interest in Democratic Party politics, which we discussed only when attending functions in support of favored candidates. Indeed, we never mixed politics with our professions. Also, I am confident that his automobile and yard always sported more campaign signs than mine. The RAPS governing board sends its heartfelt condolences to sons Charles and Thomas Bates. Whitney will be missed at our functions. The Bates family asks that remembrances be sent to Raphael House. —Victor C. Dahl, Professor Emeritus of History
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