Bev Yates, former resident of Stevensville and a real estate agent and broker in the Bitterroot Valley, passed away Saturday, March 30, 2013 at the Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, following a long illness. She and her husband owned and operated Silver Dollar Antiques on Main Street for several years. Their five children graduated from Stevensville High School.
Beverly June Yates, the daughter of Nathan and Irene (Berry) Nichols, was born April 15, 1954 in McCook, Nebraska. She grew up in the Missouri Ozarks and attended school at Sparta, where she graduated from High School in 1972. That same year she married Bill Yates, her companion of almost 41 years. During the next few years, Bev helped raise four stepchildren and five of her own children. She also attended classes at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri and later at the University of Montana in Missoula. She completed three years of college, majoring in English. When her children were older she became a real estate agent, and then a real estate broker, finally opening her own office in Dayton, Montana. She was forced to retire and go on disability eight years ago.
Bev was a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shortly after her marriage. She and Bill were sealed for time and eternity in the temple at Manti, Utah in 1975. Over the years they lived in Missouri, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Washington. Bev was always a devoted wife and mother, and her family always came before her personal interests or her career. She was an honor student in college and an accomplished poet. After her first year in real estate, she was voted Rookie of the Year in the Bitterroot Valley.
Beverly is survived by her husband and five children: Jesse Yates of Issaquah, Washington; Jeannie Poole of Medical Lake, Washington; Suzanne Thompson of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Jacob Yates of Hamilton, Montana; and Christopher Yates of Missoula, Montana; three stepchildren: Dean, Aaron, and Rachel Yates; and ten grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents and a stepdaughter, Leah Yates. She leaves a sister, Peggy Koehler of Ozark, Missouri, and two brothers, Robert Nichols of rural Sparta, Missouri, and Nathan Nichols of Oklahoma.
The funeral service was held at the LDS Church in Cheney, Washington. Burial followed at the Medical Lake Cemetery.
The ravens flutter with patience
About the bell tower spire,
And cast shadows upon the hurrying faces.
The earth quickens
In its revolving sphere
To speed people
To their time and places.
And age,
Like a jewel that is polished,
Or the painting in its revision,
Marks its changes
Upon hands
And faces
While we,
In the mind’s eye, are peering
At the moments revolving
Within the bell jar
Of this earthly dimension.
–Beverly Yates