Lester “Les” Ray Cates
Lester “Les” Ray Cates passed away suddenly at SSM St. Clare Hospital on August 5, 2024 at the age of 69. He was born in Poplar Bluff, Missouri on December 7, 1954. Predeceased by his parents Delmar and Wilma (Harrison) Cates, brother-in-law Raymond Cramer, brother-in-law Tommy Carter and nephew Nickolas Tsapelas.
Survived by his loving wife of 29 years, Darlene (Dransfeldt) Cates. Loving remembered by sister Gwen (Jerry) Parrish, sister-in-law Ruthie Cramer, sister-in-law Doris (Bob Baus) Dransfeldt, sister-in-law Jeannie Carter, brother-in-law Ron Dransfeldt, sister-in-law Deborah (Comey) Dilanjign, special nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, longtime friends Terry Maltzman, Terry Parker, Randy Huggins & special FurBabies Rowdy & Rozey.
Les was a longstanding Teamster. He was employed by Yellow Freight, Consolidated Freightways and retired from Prairie Farms Dairy (formerly Schnucks Dairy).
Les was the ultimate jokestar. He loved all sports, playing Texas Hold ‘em, grilling and cooking for family and friends, reading books, listening to his favorite bands including Meatloaf & indulging in Darlene’s homemade New York style cheesecake.
A Celebration of Life will be held December 7, 2024 to honor Les’s 70th birthday.
Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to Stray Rescue of St. Louis.
My Loving Husband my Honeycakies I Miss you so much and Love you so much. My life will never be the same my Heart is Broken💔. I don’t know what I am going to do with myself. I Loved you with all my heart. I will never find anyone as good as you were to me. You were my Honeycakies forever and ever.
Love you my Honeycakies
Your Honeycakies Your Wife
Darlene Cates
Les, where do I start? Although love is in so many of our hearts for you, you left with your love for us in your heart. I never left with the question of your love and how you enjoyed your family and friends. You were an amazing cook and sure knew how to make everyone laugh with your sense of humor that had no end once you had a good target person. But most of all you were a wonderful husband to my Aunt Darlene. She will miss you with all her heart and soul. You now have your wings. Fly high Uncle Les, we will meet again, until then you’re forever in our hearts! ❤️🪽🙏🏼
Les , you will surely be miss by friends and family. I appreciate the time that I got to spend with you when I came and visited. I appreciate you taking me to the ball game and hanging out with me and I most appreciate you taking care of my aunt Darlean through all the years you were one heckuva card player and you never met a stranger, rest in peace my friend .
Les thank you for your friendship you are a great man. I will remember all the ball games we had and went to fishing trips and just hanging out and having a few cold beers. Chris Moore
Les you will always be a part of the DeepStacks family. You will be truly missed.
Cara
I’m going to miss seeing Les in the driveway
When walking the dogs. He would stand there and wait till i got close, and have something funny or sarcastic to say! I was always happy to see him out there, cuz i knew i’d leave with a smile.
What great guy! What a big presence.
What a loss❤️
Les was kind hearted, honest, and was fun to be around. Loved his quick wit, you always went away smiling by something he said. You could see that Darlene and Les had something special. Les was always giving Darlene a hard time (jokingly of course) and they both were smiling as a result of whatever he said. We are having a hard time thinking about not having him anymore to bask in his joy. We were happy to have him in our life. Miss him already, as a neighbor and friend.
Yea guys I’m still heartbroken over Lester’s passing but now it’s time to celebrate this great man’s life. He was not only a great friend 2 me but maybe my greatest friend ever! We still laughed about the time on a Colorado Mt. In a blizzard he crashed hard and lost his contact lense. I went back and found it. We played in many racquetball tourneys 2gether and even won a few. My thoughts now are with Darlene and the rest of the family. You will be so missed and never forgotten. Rest in peace dear brother!
So very sorry to hear about Les’s sudden passing. Most of my fondest special memories of Les are when we were kids, teenagers, and young carefree adults. As youngsters, Les and I competed against each other all summer long playing wiffle ball, pool, tennis, and even croquet. That was back in the time when kids played outside all day long! Les had a pool table in their basement, and we played for hours every day, with the loser contributing 10c for each loss toward an IMO’s pizza. We never did go hungry! Wiffle ball was the early evening sport most nights, playing either in one of our back yards or in the street. Neighbors actually came out on their front porches and watched us play in the street until the lightning bugs came out. Luckily, there was not much traffic on our street back then. Lester always went after that high inside pitch! And sometimes he even hit it! On hot summer days, we rode our bikes to Sublette Park several days a week to play marathon tennis, as there was no one there when it was 90F+. We played for hours with two pairs of socks on and our feet were still hot! We did take breaks and drink a lot of water. Lester rarely beat me, but he loved to play. There was a group of five of us that gathered on some evenings to play croquet in my back yard. We would play for hours, with a strong competitive spirit by all!
Later in life, I moved to Louisiana for my work and Lester visited several times. He always brought his tennis racket. And why not? It was 90+F and 90+ humidity! As we were older now, neither one of us could play 3-4 hours like we did when we were teenagers! But now, afterwards, we could drink beer instead of water! On his first trip down to the New Orleans area, we visited Pat OBriens Piano Bar and of course we closed the place down around 4am. That was back when you didn’t have credit cards and had to pay cash. With a table full of empty hurricane glasses, and with Lester wanting to buy two glasses to take home as souvenirs, we barely had enough money on us together to pay for all the drinks and glasses. We both felt bad, because we unfortunately had no money to tip the waiter after we emptied our wallets, including change from our pocket!
Lester’s final trip to New Orleans / Biloxi area was for our wedding, as Les was in our wedding. He enjoyed the seafood down south on all his visits. And later, Lester also got married, so now our get togethers were not as frequent, as we both were no longer bachelors.
So, Les, I definitely will remember you! One of your lifelong friends – Dave P.
With hearing about Les I’m so sorry I never had the chance to meet him,But met his Awesome wife @ the gym! I’m so sorry for the loss & hate for Darlene to have to go thru the terrible heart- break of losing such a great husband,MY SYMPATHY & CONDOLENCES TO HER, FAMILY,& THOSE THAT KNEW HIM……..”WHAT A PERFECT COUPLE MADE FOR EACH OTHER”🥺💔🙏
I have a loss of words to express how I feel after Les passing away. It is almost like someone gave me a one two punch in the face. Les enjoyed life to its fullest and everyone liked him.
Les was a big St. Louis Ram and Kansas City Chief fan. I tried to make him a Dallas Cowboy fan after the Ram football team moved to California. However, that was an impossible task. He would have been a Dallas Cheerleader fan before becoming a Dallas Cowboy fan.
I always enjoyed gong to a tailgate party with Les before the
Rams football game. He really knew how to cook some good food to make the day special before watching the football game.
Les was very competitive, and I enjoyed playing a game of shuffleboard or any other game he had in his basement.
LES WILL BE MISSED
Les was a kind and happy person. My prayers go out to his family, friends, and his amazing wife Darlene! 🙏🙏🙏