Eli was born February 18, 1926, in
Chandler, Arizona. At the time of his birth, his mother, Maude
Gertrude Powell was 22 years old and his father Herbert Ellis Gates was 23. Eli
was the first of three children. He was named after his paternal grand-father,
Eli Fountain "Fount" Gates.
Eli spent his whole life in Arizona. Arizona is known for its 5C's, Cattle, Copper, Cotton, Citrus,
and Climate. When he was young, Arizona was a sparsely populated state. After
WWII jobs a good job market and air conditioning drew people to the desert.
During Eli's lifetime, the population of the state of Arizona grew from just
120,000 in 1900 to 750,000 by 1950. By the time Eli died in 2005, the
population of Arizona was just short of 6 million residents. The majority of
Arizona residents live in the Metropolitan Phoenix area. Phoenix had just over
sixty-five thousand resident in 1940 became America's sixth largest city in
2010 with a population of nearly 11.5 million and millions more in the suburbs.
Eli's paternal grandparents Fount and
Lizzie Gates were Karena homesteaders. The family migrated to Arizona from
Texas in 1918. The early Homestead Act favored field crops over livestock.
Using water from the Highline Canal, Fount and Lizzie convert the native desert
lands into a productive farm. Using the farm skills he learned in his native
Texas, Fount began growing cotton and alfalfa.
After his parents Herb and Maude married in 1924, they opened a
dairy farm near Eli's grandparents in the Kyrene farm district. The ranch was
located on the Highline canal south of Ray road (then called Pima Road) and east of
48th street. Part of the ranch was dry and part of the ranch had water rights from
the High line canal.
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| Maude, Eli and Bill |
Eli's brother Bill, (William Herbert Gates) was only 18 months younger than him. So close in age and living out on the farm, they were each other’s best friends. It wasn’t uncommon for them to be running around barefooted near their desert home. They learned at an early age to care for the farm animals including chickens, cows, and their ponies.
The children took baths in the irrigation canals during the summer. They wore underwear made from the flour sacks
from the Hayden Flour Mill. Most homes were built with porches around them to ward
off the sun. At night during the
summer, the family would sleep outside on an enclosed
porch.
In 1928, Salt River Project shareholders requested electrical
service for their farms. As a result, in April 1929, the Salt River Project
Water Association levied a $ 5.50 / acre special assessment to its users. Eli's
dad Herb was assessed for 58.50 acres wet lands in section 29. These monies
were used to finance the installation of electrical power lines. The Gates farm
probably got electrical service around 1930. According to SRP's website, in 1930, when only 25%
of rural America was electrified, 80% of those living in SRP service territory
received electric service.
Eli was a young child when the stock market collapsed in October
1928 which was the start of the Great Depression. According to the Rogue Columnist, the Great
Depression spared no state, city or town. Copper prices plunged,
devastating Arizona's No. 1 industry. Commodity prices tumbled, including
cotton and citrus. Unemployed mine workers and their families, joined by farm
families fleeing the Dust Bowl came to Phoenix. Makeshift camps of tents
and shack called "Hoovervilles” sprung up in and around the city. From
1930 through 1933, the hardship, desperation and fear played out in Phoenix.
The Gates family was directly affected by the Great Depression. In
order to survive, Eli's parents left the farm. The Powell girls had a school
friend from Collinsville, Illinois who was married to the manager of the
Phoenix County Club. Using these connections they got hired on. Herb was the manager
of the pool and the life guard. Maude worked in the kitchen. It is unknown how
much experience Maude had with baking when she started. But before long her
skills were substantial. She was known for yeast rolls, pies and cakes. Eli's
favorite was her mile high lemon meringue pie.
In order to keep the dairy going, Eli's Great Uncle, George Powell, came out from Illinois to help. Uncle George was deaf, he communicated with the family via sign language. Eli’s father Herb never learned to sign, but both Eli and Bill were able to communicate with Uncle George using sign language. Eli would later teach his children the sign language alphabet.
Unable to keep the children at home, they were sent to stay with
their grandparents. Eli went to stay with Mom and Dad Powell (Gertrude and
William Powell) in the house on Dayton in Phoenix. Bill went to stay with
Grandma and Grandpa Gates. I'm sure this separation of the boys was very hard
on both of them. Because Eli was in Phoenix, he was able to attend kindergarten
at a nearby school, Emerson Elementary School (which was built in 1921 on 915
E. Palm Lane.)
In November 1932 the Gateses who were staunch Democrats surely
voted Franklin Roosevelt who had campaigned in Phoenix with Senator Carl
Hayden. Soon their votes were justified as the nation’s economy began to
improve. From 1933 to 1939 Arizona received $342 million in federal aid — about
$5.8 billion in today's dollars. The assorted farm aid and agricultural price
stabilization programs allowed Herb and Maude to return to the family farm.
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| Kyrene School Classrooms |
Eli was enrolled in
Kyrene Elementary school's first grade class during the 1932 - 1933 school year.
His brother Bill would be enrolled in first grade the following year.
The school was located
at the northwest corner of Warner and Kyrene roads. The small country school
had 4 wood and stucco classrooms; they combined grades 1 and 2; grades 3 and 4;
grades 5 and 6; and grades 7 and 8. Bill, born 18 months after Eli, was
in the following grade; every other year the boys were in the same class. The 4
classrooms were still in use in the 1950-60’s when their children attended
Kyrene Elementary.
Students rode to and from school on ponies or in horse-drawn buggies. The Gates boys rode their ponies; Eli's pony was named Black Beauty. Adjacent to their school rooms was a fenced pasture where the horses and ponies waited for their young masters. Hitching
posts and water troughs were probably available at school. Later on the school began bus service and the Gates boys rode the bus to school.
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| Note written by Eli to his mother |
C.I. Waggoner was the
principal of the school. Years later when Eli was on the school board and his
children were enrolled in the school, Mr. Waggoner was the principal and
Superintendent.
Eli’s mother Maude was
active in the local PTA (Parent Teacher Association). In the 1935-36 school
year, she was the vice president. In May 1936 she was president of the Kyrene
PTA.
The Kyrene School had a
large number of Hispanic students. On student, Margery Estrella, gave the
following account of their interaction:
"In fifth or sixth grade, we were on the bus, and he (Eli Gates) wanted to sit where I was sitting, and he made the remark and called me a 'half breed.' I got up and I hit him! Mr. Seibert stopped the bus, "what's going on there?' And so I told Mr. Seibert. 'OK Eli, out!' and he opened up the door, and he got off the bus."
As children of farmers, Eli and Bill were expected to help their parents with farm chores, but their parents also found time for the boys to join their friends in after school activities.
When Eli turned 10, he joined the local 4-H club. He won many awards for his livestock, his mother clipped articles from the local newspapers that mentioned his name. His love of 4-H would continue for a good part of his life.
In the Kyrene farm district, the centrally located
school was the center of community activities. Boys scout, 4-H club and Farm
Bureau meetings, were held at the school. His parents were active in the
community. In 1936 when Eli was in the 4th grade, his mother was president of
the PTA. In 1939 his father was president of the Kyrene Farm Bureau.
Newspaper clippings show that in 1937, 11-year old Eli was a Cub Scout. He attended a father son dinner which was held at the Kyrene School auditorium.
Newspaper clippings show that in 1937, 11-year old Eli was a Cub Scout. He attended a father son dinner which was held at the Kyrene School auditorium.
In 1936, just after Eli turned 10 years old, his mother gave birth to his brother Kenneth. Eli and Kenneth's birthday's were so close together that in 1939 the Gates family celebrated both birthdays at a picnic in South Mountain Park. Eli's mother Maude had considerable baking skills. There are plenty of photos of her children through the years with a birthday cake their mother had made for them.
On January 21, 1937 a winter storm blew through Arizona and dropped the greatest amount of snow ever recorded in Phoenix. The 1937 storm saw accumulations as much as 4 inches that stayed on the ground for several days. The storm was captured in family photos. The ranch was located at the base of South Mountain. I don't ever remember snow as a kid, but the ranch which was located less than 1 mile away but closer to South Mountain would sometimes get snowflakes.
Eli was born with a bad
hip. According to his first wife, Melaine, the ball of the hip bone wasn’t in
the socket. Dad has always wondered if it was congenital, as his grandfather
Powell also had a bad hip. In July 1938, at the age of 12, his parent took him
to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital to have it surgically repaired. The hospital
was near downtown Phoenix, near his Powell grandparent’s home on Dayton.
After the surgery, he
stayed with the Powells; his Aunt Mabelle would take him to his therapy
appointments. When Eli was in his late 60’s or early 70’s he had a full hip
replacement. He told his daughter Margaret, that if he had knows how much
relief it provided; he would have had it done years before.
In May 1940, Eli
graduated from Kyrene elementary school.
In the fall of 1940 he was enrolled in Tempe High School. The school was located on the southeast corner of Mill and University. In June 1941, Eli received as award from the Altrusa Club for the greatest improvement in Freshman English.
Eli continued his 4-H work; in November 1942 he was awarded a $25 savings bond as one of five State Victory Achievement winners. An article in the Prescott Evening Courier listed his projects that were the basis of his award.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Eli was 15 years old. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was the "9-11 moment" for his generation. The date was remembered annually. This event catapulted the United States into World War II.
In September 1942, Eli's parents Herb and Maude made the painful decision to institutionalize Kenneth. According to records from the Arizona State Mental hospital, Kenneth was severely retarded following a brain infection he suffered at 6 months of age. One day Eli and his brother Bill went to school and when they returned home, Kenneth was gone. Eli was 16, Bill was 15 and Kenneth was 6.
Eli spent a lot of his spare time on his 4-H projects. In November 1942, Eli won a $25 war bond for his 4-H achievements. In November 1943, Eli took State honors for his 4-H work. The prize was a trip to Chicago to attend the National 4-H Club Congress. When asked by his daughters about the best trip of his life, Eli told them about the trip to Chicago. He told about the fact they also gave him a Stetson hat as well as the trip.
Sometime during the war, the Principal of Alma School asked Eli's mom to come work; there was a labor shortage due to the ongoing war. Since Maude was not certified to teach, she worked in the office. From that time forward Maude was a working wife and mother. (She returned to college and earned her BS in Elementary Education in 1951.)
Eli and his brother Bill attended the First Methodist Church of Tempe. It was during his high school years that Eli became a Christian. He told his daughter Shirley about becoming a Christian while attending a Methodist church camp.
In May 1944, Eli graduated from Tempe High School. After graduation, he began taking classes at Arizona State Teachers College (now ASU).
In 1945, nearly a third of Americans lived in poverty. A third of the homes had no running water; two-fifths lacked flushing toilets. More than half of the nation's farm dwellings had no electricity. When WII ended in the summer of 1945, soldiers came home and found peacetime jobs. Industry stopped producing war equipment and began producing consumer goods. The GI bill resulted in a highly educated work class.
With the nuclear bomb, the US became the most powerful nation on earth. The advantage lasted just four short years; the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon in 1949. The thought of a nuclear holocaust was a subtle shadow over the promise and prosperity that dominated the lives of Americans in the 1950's and 1960's.
With the nuclear bomb, the US became the most powerful nation on earth. The advantage lasted just four short years; the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon in 1949. The thought of a nuclear holocaust was a subtle shadow over the promise and prosperity that dominated the lives of Americans in the 1950's and 1960's.
After the war ended, Eli who had been attending classes at Arizona State Teachers College transferred to Colorado A & M in
Fort Collins during the 1945-1946 year where he enrolled in the veterinary
science program. After one year, he returned to Arizona.
On May 27, 1946, his 18-year-old brother Bill eloped with his high school sweetheart Phyllis Runyan. Although his parents were taken back by the unexpected marriage, they helped the young couple purchase property on the South East corner of 48th Street and Williams Field Road (now called Chandler Blvd.)
In March 1947, Eli bought a parcel of land on the south east corner of Ray road and 56th Street. The parcel was just short of being a quarter section; there was an easement for the Arizona Eastern Railroad and for the two roads. According to the closing statement Eli paid $31,125.
He took a mortgage out on the property. On the corner of the property was a small 1 bedroom-1 bath cottage. As Eli was still living at home, he rented out the cottage. On the surrounding farm land, he began growing alfalfa.
After returning from Colorado, Eli had begun attending the Wesley Foundation, a campus ministry associated with the Methodist Church andArizona State College.
One night after church, one of the girls who attended the Wesley Foundation started her car and a smoke bomb went off. Everyone blamed it on Eli, and rightly so, he had purchased them in Mexico).While attending the Wesley Foundation he met an attractive young co-ed named Bertha "Melaine" Reppel. Melaine was an education major. He took Melaine to the State Fair which was held in Phoenix in November. Eli didn't have a car, so he borrowed one of the farm pick-ups and off they went.
In the middle of February, after having dated for several months, Eli asked Melaine to marry him. She agreed and the couple set the date for the end of May.Eli and Melaine were married in a small ceremony at the Creighton Methodist Church in Phoenix on the evening of May 28, 1949. Melaine's lifelong friend, Arleen Irion served as her maid of honor; Eli's brother Bill served as his best man. Melaine's two sisters Edie and Bobbie lit the candles at the altar. Eli's mother Maude baked and decorated the Wedding Cake. It was one of her specialties, Angle food.
Relationships and marriage vary between cultures. In Eli's day, the typical American couple started dating in their late teens or early twenties, and married within a few years. Once the knot was tied, the average couple had 3 or 4 children.A day or two before the wedding, a calamity occurred at the ranch; the barn caught fire and burnt to the ground. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the fire prevented the newlyweds from going on their honeymoon.
Eli and Melaine planned to live in the cottage that was located on Eli's property. The renter vacated the premises, but the well was dry. The newlywed stayed in the bunkhouse at the Gates Ranch that was located behind his parent’s house. Their living situation didn't prevent Melaine from becoming pregnant almost immediately. In order to be useful, Melaine assumed the cooking duties. According to Melaine who didn't know how to cook "It was pretty bad. No one said anything to me, but your Dad took a lot of teasing."
It was nearly Christmas before the young couple was able to move into their home. Both sets of parents helped the young couple get established providing a stove and refrigerator. The Reppels also provided a water heater and the necessary plumbing.
Like most young couples just getting started their furnishings were yard sale chic. The previous renters had kindly left behind living room furniture, a dining table with benches that Melaine described as "like a picnic table", and luckily a bed and dresser.
Eli worked for the family dairy "Desertland Farms". He and his brother Bill divided up the work. Bill concentrated on the animals. As such he was responsible for the milk men, and filled in when they were absent. Eli was responsible for the equipment. His job responsibilities included keeping all the tractors and farm equipment running.
Eli's father, Herb paid the mortgage payments and electricity on the property and the young couple received $30 a week to cover the rest. The young couple had no car, and no telephone. Catty-corner from their home was a small country store. The people who owned the store were good friends and allowed the couple to make and receive emergency calls. When the couple found it impossible to make ends meet, Melaine asked her father-in-law for a raise. Eli then began making $75 every 2 weeks.
In February 1949, the couple's eldest daughter Elaine Anne was born. Eli was 23 years old and Melaine was 21. Soon more children followed; Eli Jr. (aka Gatesy) in '50, Shirley in '52 and Margaret (aka Margie) in '54. With four children, the family was complete.
However, the cottage was soon too small. Sometime in the early '50s a 2 bedroom addition was made to the house. The 3 girls shared the larger bedroom. Gatesy was given the small closet-less bedroom.
Eli and his family benefited from medical advancements. Many new vaccines were available that eliminated diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, and smallpox. His children were mostly healthy. Like most families in the 1950s they survived childhood illnesses including the mumps, measles and chicken pox. When the polio vaccine became available, the Gates family joined the neighbors in getting the vaccine which was dispensed and the nearby Kyrene Elementary School.
In 1953 there was an opening on the Kyrene School Board. Eli's friends and neighbors wrote his name in on the ballot and he was elected to the board. It was a position he held until 1967 (14 years). One of his first action as a school board member was to go pick up a school bus in Lima, Ohio in 1953.
Eli and Melaine flew to St. Louis, Missouri. They had a nice visit with Eli's maternal Aunt, Cora Mathias and his Great Uncle George Powell who lived in Collinsville, Illinois. While they were there they visited the St. Louis Zoo. From there the Gates' took a train to Lima, Ohio where they picked up the bus; the bus had to little fuel in the, Eli worried they might not make it to the service station. After fueling up, they headed for home. They stopped for the night in Oklahoma before continuing on. They drove the rest of the way stopping only for food and restrooms. They arrived home in the middle of the night. Eli's parents were staying in the house watching the kids. Eli and Melaine spent the rest of the night sleeping on the floor.
Later on when his children were attending Kyrene school, Eli, his father Herb and brother Bill would on occasion have lunch in the Kyrene School cafeteria. It was one way Eli could keep an eye on the quality of food being served to the students.
Television came to Arizona on December 4, 1949 when KPHO-TV came on the air. There wasn't much programming in the early days but KPHO carried programs from all networks of the time, plus lots of local programming. For the first few months, the station signed on at around 4 p.m. each day and signed off between 10 p.m. to midnight. Network programming would arrive at the station a couple of days before its scheduled broadcast in the form of kinescope films. It is unknown when the Gates family got their first TV, but one appears in family photos as early as January 1957.
Sometime in the early '50s the Gates family got telephone service. Eli's grandmother, lived about a quarter mile up the road from Eli. "Grandma Gates," as everyone called her, was in her 70's and had a heart condition which had resulted in several hospital stays. Eli fought with the telephone company to get service to her house; he threatened to call the Corporation Commission.
Finally Bell Telephone agreed and installed a telephone at her house. They ran an extension from her house to our house and we shared the phone. When it rang, it rang in both houses and it was answered by whoever picked up the telephone first. The telephone number was York town (YO) 3-6897. All the houses in the Kyrene were on party lines, either 10 or 12, I don't remember which. Each house had a unique ring. You didn't want to use the phone for private conversations, since you never knew who would be listening in.
Sometime in the 50's, Eli and Melaine purchased a green 1956 Ford sedan. Reliable transportation allowed Melaine to return to college.The oldest 2 children, Elaine and Gatesy were already in school; Shirley and Margie ages 5 and 3 attended Happy Times Day Nursery while Melaine attended class. In 1958 Shirley began school and Eli's sister-in-law Phyllis kept Margie. When 1959 came, Margie begged to go back to day care and her parents couldn't say no to her.
Melaine’s program of study required her to complete a semester of Student Teaching. Eli's mother Maude obtained a student teaching position for Melaine at Alma School. Melaine graduated in May of 1958 with a BS in Education. After graduation, Melaine obtained a teaching position in the Roosevelt School district in South Phoenix. After she began work, finances in the Gates family were much improved.
One year I sent my Dad a birthday card with a donkey on the front of it. It read something like Happy Birthday to a wonderful father from your jackass kid. Dad took it in to the office and showed it to the staff and told them, "Do you know why my daughter sent this to me? Because I'm such a GOOD Democrat."
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| Elaine receiving her diploma from her Dad |
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| Eli plays Santa at Kyrene School with Elaine, Karen & Linda Gates |
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| Tempe Mortuary |
When Eli's children reached 4th or 5th grade, they began
participating in the Kyrene 4-H club. Eli and Melaine were active leaders in
the club. Eli who grew up on 4-H helped the youngsters with the 4-H animal
projects. As a leader, he also took up leather work. I remember a hand tooled
leather belt he made for me as a child. When one young man achieved State
honors in tractor driving, Eli accompanied him to Nationals. In 1964 Eli
was selected to receive a 4-H alumni award.
Sometime in the late 1960s Eli found a new passion, salvage. According to Martin Gibson in an article published in the Ahwatukee Foothills News, "The lure of broken machinery became a siren call for Eli, who began spending more and more time troubleshooting dairy equipment. An avid collector, Eli accumulated a myriad of machinery on his father's land, with the metal eventually outpacing the cows. Eli Gates called his collection a recycling business - but for years, everyone else called it a junkyard." Eli told a reporter named Clare Ulik that the business started by accident "when a relative offered to haul 15 years worth of hay baling wire to a buyer in California."
The dairy had a 15-ton truck scale, and soon Eli was using it to weigh the junk that people were selling. Eli bought a baler in order to compress the metal prior to shipping it out. When he first started the business, much of the metal was sold to Marathon Steel located only a few miles away. He never knew what he'd find in the "junk" people would sell him. He would bring home treasures to share with his family. I remember several antique irons that were salvaged from the "junkyard."
In December 1969, Eli's mother Maude Powell Gates died in Tempe, Arizona. She was buried in Double Butte Cemetery. Eli was 43. After her death, Eli, his brother Bill and his father discussed getting out of the dairy business. As part of settling his mother's estate an appraisal of the family business was made in December 1970. According to the report Desertland Dairy Farms operated on a verbal partnership between Herbert, Eli, and Bill Gates and their wives. Each family owned one-third of the business or $785,200 each.
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| Eli's Shop surrounded by junk |
In 1972 Eli along with two partners Arlan and Jack opened "Freeway Auto Supply", a NAPA auto parts store in Tempe on the south west corner of Southern and Mill Ave. It ceased its operation in 1991.
In January of 1974, Eli went to India with a group from Grace Community Church. They were going to India to dedicate a church in Calcutta. It would be the first of many overseas trips.
As Eli became more involved in Junk his wife Melaine became more and more unhappy. After all the children left home, she said enough is enough and the couple divorced in 1974. Melaine moved into town and Eli remained in the house in Kyrene. Eli paid for her house and she gave him a quit claim deed to the farm land.
When Melaine left, she gave Eli an address book. In it was the telephone number of Alma Cowen Morgan. Alma was a school teacher who had worked with Melaine in the Roosevelt School District. She was a widow with a young daughter named Carla. Eli called Alma and they began dating. Also would later write of their courtship:"He came over for dinner and we started going out including Carla... I had not planned to remarry... But the more we were together, I discovered there was a real brain and an enormous heart in that big old teddy bear with the saddest brown eyes I had ever seen."
Eli and Alma were
married in the spring of 1975; Eli was 49 and Alma was 39. They bought a house
on Butte Ave. in Tempe that backed up to the Superstition Freeway. Alma left
her teaching position to work with Eli in the Recycling business. Carla was
enrolled in a Tempe Elementary school. Eli would love and accept Carla as if
she was his own blood. Alma used to say Carla was more like Eli than like her.
In 1976 Alma found out she was pregnant. Alma told Patrick she was 4 months into the pregnancy before she realized she was pregnant. What a surprise for everyone involved. The next door neighbor was a doctor and told her one day over coffee, she didn’t believe him. When her regular doctor told Alma she was pregnant, she told him to run the test again. There was some concern over Alma's age, but her doctor told her both she and the baby were healthy. 
I still remember the day Dad called me to tell me the news. I was in the Army living in Maryland when Dad sheepishly told me the news.In April 1977, Patrick Thomas Gates was born. He was a pistol and kept Eli and Alma hopping. When Patrick was young, Dad would sit on the floor and he and Patrick would play solitaire together.
Eli and Alma entertained their friends, neighbors and family in the house. The house had a fences pool where Patrick was soon swimming like a fish. In the garage they had pinball and computer games. They bought some slot machines in Las Vegas; they kept a stash of coins for Patrick and his friends to play. On Christmas morning, Eli and Alma would host a brunch for whoever could come - everyone was welcome. Patrick said the last one the hosted over 500 people attended.
Eli loved games, He would invite his kids and their families over to his house and out would come the dominos. We played a variation of Mexican train. Everyone would line up their dominos. One time Dad lined them all up by made a mistake in his play and played his short line instead of his long line. Soon we were calling that type of a mistake an "Eli".
Eli welcomed Alma's family into his world as well. Eli and Alma moved her parents onto the Gates property. Her brother Wayne and mother Orba Mae Cowen began working for Recycling Industries. Later after he sold the property, he and Alma bought a home in Ahwatukee for her mom.
Sometime in the mid 70's Eli started an alternator and starter business. I don't know if it was incorporated or even had a business name. During the fall of 1976, I rode with Alma to Northern Arizona and Las Vegas where she was delivering parts to customers.
I was along to look after Patrick who was a baby.
As Eli was getting more serious about his Around this same time he also was working a
In 1978, Eli and Alma incorporated the recycling business, under the name RECYCLING INDUSTRIES, INC. Eli was listed as the President and CEO. The business was still located on the farm land where the dairy once stood. In 1981, Eli and the business had a brush with the law. Eli bought some copper tubing. Apparently the person selling the copper was an undercover operative in a sting operation. Eli was arrested for trafficking in stolen property. He felt that he had been set up, but it was a learning moment. Eli was much more careful about what and who he was buying from after that.
In the spring of 1978 Eli's brother Kenneth died. Eli would never make that trip to see his brother in the State Hospital that he had thought about so many times. Eli was so like his mother in temperament; he kept his deepest, darkest secrets and hurts close to his vest, seldom speaking of them. Kenneth had been an open wound for Eli; I never heard Dad talk about Kenneth until after his mother died in '69.
In October 1983, Eli's father passed away at the age of 79. Eli was 57. Herbert was buried next to his beloved wife Maude in Double Butte cemetery.
In 1983, the City of Chandler formed an improvement district for road construction to widen Williams Field Road and other Kyrene roads. To fund the construction, the City assessed the land owners who owned the property facing the roads. Eli's property had a hefty assessment. He and his neighbors sued the city of Chandler over the matter. This was one of the defining reasons Eli decided to sell his personal farm land. Land that he had bought in 1947 for less than $32 thousand sold in 1986 for several million.
This sale changed Eli's lifestyle drastically. The Gates family began traveling around the world; Patrick and Carla saw the world with Alma and Eli. Their first trip was to England and Ireland; other visits included China, Australia, New Zealand, Panama, Hawaii, and many more. One year he went to the China Trade Fair.
In
1987 Eli expanded his business dealings. The recycling business required trucks and truck drivers to get the salvage to it's markets. Soon Eli was in the trucking business as well. He incorporated GILA MATERIALS, INC. to handle his growing trucking business (the corporation ceased to do business in March 1998.) He bought 2 trucking companies around 1991-92. At that time he had over 160 trucks on the road and it was the largest construction trucking company in Arizona at that time.
In 1985, Eli and Alma built a house in Ahwatukee. The house which was located on the back side of South Mountain was on Tuzigoot Drive. It was a short drive to Recycling Industries. It was a nice house, a house they could be proud of and entertain in. The 4, 873 sq ft home had 6 bedrooms and 5.5 baths. When they built the home they had a mother-in-laws suite built on the ground level. Eli had it built with the idea that he might need to care for his step-mother Gracie Gates.In February 1991, Eli turned 65. He filed for social security and partially retired. Even with his partial retirement, Eli was still CEO of the company. He was still in the office at 9am, lunch at 12, back at 2, home at 5.
In February 1994 the name was changed to GILA-RECYCLING, INC. Kevin Johnson, his right hand man, replaced Eli as President and CEO. Kevin was a big asset to the business, he brought structure that was missing.
At some point Eli and the company got certified for environmental remediation. They began bidding on environmental projects including the Motorola 52nd Street facility. The company was awarded several jobs to extract metals from existing landfills. Gila Recycling developed a great reputation during that time for doing many difficult jobs. However the court battle stemming from the problem with Loyd Brown affected the business. When Eli got sick, Alma took over running the business and according to Patrick, she wasn't a good administrator. The business would remain in operation until 2006.
It was in the mid 1990's that Eli began his downhill fight with diabetes. His mother Maude had died of complications of diabetes following a series of diabetic strokes. Dad believed his paternal grandfather, William "Bill" Powell aka Dad Powell also had undiagnosed diabetes. Having been a spectator to his mother's disastrous denial of her disease, Eli tried to take better care of himself. He took his meds and blood sugar regularly. But it didn't prevent him from have a diabetic stroke of his own.
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| 1997 Gates Family Reunion |
After returning to his home on Tuzigoot, Eli and Alma hired a young caregiver who had some experience with home health care. They worked hard on his recovery, Eli would go out with his walker daily and he recovered much of physical health. Not being one to sit home and watch TV, he was soon going to the business daily.
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| 1997 Gates Family Reunion Eli & Bill, Gatesy, Patrick, & Herbie |
In the 1992, Eli and Alma bought a summer home in Payson, Arizona on Mountain View Road. It was place that was special for both of them. While spending time in Payson, they saw an opportunity to expand their business. In December of 1997 they filed incorporation papers for GILA REDI-MIX, INC. (which operated from Dec. 1997 to June 2010) in Payson. The business was listed under heavy construction. Soon they were providing construction materials including rock, sand and gravel for a variety of construction projects. In December of 1997 they also filed incorporation papers for GILA AUTO PARTS, INC. (which operated from Dec. 1997 to June 2002) in Tempe at the same location as the Gila Recycling.
In some of his business dealings, were done with a business partner named Lloyd Brown, aka Brownie. According to Patrick, problems started when Brownie "depreciated the equipment that
Eli bought in cash as his own assets.
The IRS got involved and froze all of Eli’s accounts. Then all hell broke loose. When Eli was done, he had full ownership of
Payson business, bought the land at 33% of value and Brown was looking at
Prison. Alma and Eli nearly got divorced
near all of this. I remember her
screaming at him in the kitchen one night that she had enough of these people
effing him."
Even while his body was failing him, his mind was still sharp. He was always a reader, when he was working the dairy he would read the newspaper or farm magazines at night after work. Later in life his step daughter Carla introduced him to Jackie Collins and soon he was reading Carla's romance novels. He also enjoyed biographies.
In July 2003, his brother Bill, they 75, died at his home in Mayer. It must have hit Eli hard. He and Bill had been close; both a kids and as adults. They had worked together for over 30 years. Eli would follow in less than 2 years. Eli died on March 30, 2005 at a hospice facility in Phoenix. He was 79 years old. He was buried in East Resthaven Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona.
Sometime in the early 2000's while Dad was living in the group home, he asked Patrick to bring him some cardboard. Patrick questioned Dad and why he needed cardboard. It was because Dad had a hole in the sole of his shoe. Since Patrick couldn't get Dad to go shoe shopping, Patrick and Megan went shopping and bought about a dozen pair of shoes in Dad's size. They took them to Dad and had him try them on and pick which one(s) he wanted to keep. The rest were returned for a refund. Another time Patrick bought Eli 3 Hawaiian shirts. Soon Eli was wearing them nearly every day.
Dad was a member of the Tempe Sundown Optimist club for many years. He had some other non-consequential business ventures that were not included in this narrative.
In Eli's early adulthood, Eli's father Herb ran the family farm and made ALL the decisions. It was only when Eli started the Recycling business that he had a say in what was going on. His biggest fault was his inability to say NO to people who was using him. It was a problem in both of his marriages.
Dad was generous with his time and his love. He had room in his heart for not just his children, but for his step daughter Carla as well. All of us knew that Dad loved us very much and he wanted only the best for us. After he and Mom divorced, he went out of his way to tell us to not blame her. Shirley would tell him later, he had taught her a lesson in Christian forgiveness.
Dad was advocate for public education. He was determined that all of his children would graduate from high school. When my brother Gatesy talked about dropping out of high school, Dad threatened to take him to school and attend class with him. Dad was proud that his daughters and Patrick graduated from college.
A few weeks before Dad died, Shirley asked him "How do you want to be remembered?" He replied "That I loved my family."
