Thomas A. Yates passed away on June 3, 2014 at the age of 76.

Beloved husband of Joanne (Fleischmann) Yates; Special step-father of Cindi (Richard) Tate; Father of Scot Yates and Adam Yates, deceased; Dear grandfather of Richard (Christina) Schneider, Jr., Robyn (Kenneth) Wynn and Abbey Tate; Great-grandfather of Hunter, Chayce, Ashton and Jordan Wynn; Preceded in death by brothers Leonard (Pat) Yates; Eugene (Mary) Yates; Robert (Kim, deceased) Yates; Survived by brother Jerry (Charlotte, deceased) Yates; Dear son of the late Aaron and Alma Yates; Brother-in-law, uncle, great-uncle, cousin and friend to many.

Tom retired as a Master Sergeant from the military in 1992 having served in the active (Air Force) and Air National Guard reserves for more than 25 years. He retired from McDonnell Douglas (Boeing) in 1992.

He was an avid bowler, golfer and fisherman. He enjoyed woodworking and liked to create various decorative wood pieces.

He was a great train enthusiast having designed and built a train display of model trains. He also had a collection of John Deere memorabilia.

Tom was an Alderman for the City of Bella Villa for a term and earned the title of “Mr. Nay” because he rarely voted yes on a motion unless it was in the best interest of the city.

He loved our St Louis Cardinals and never missed an opportunity to “arm-chair” manage the team, calling balls, strikes and arguing with the umpires.

He loved his two rescue dogs, Clara and Sarah and they miss him deeply.

Memorials requested to Stray Rescue (www.strayrescue.org) or to Vitas Hospice at (www.vitas.com/community-page).