BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Eugenia Carolyn Tatem Bates, “Jean” to friends and family, died on Thursday, November 2nd, 2023 at the age of 94.
Jean was born in Norfolk Virginia on March 10, 1929 to Eugene Carlisle Tatem of Norfolk and Virginia Breeding Tatem of Kent Island Maryland. She was the middle child of 3 daughters. Her father was a pharmacist and she followed his footsteps.
After Graduating Maury High School in 1948, Jean attended Columbia University and then University of Maryland at College Park where she graduated with a degree in pharmacy. She was one of 8 women in her graduating class. Passing the Virginia Pharmacy Boards in 1955 she went to work for her father in the small chain of Tatem’s Pharmacies.
While working at the store in Little Creek in Norfolk, she met John Bernard Bates, a Marine from Hot Springs, Arkansas, stationed at Little Creek in Norfolk. In June of 1958 they wed. Marines travel and in 1958 Jean and John left Norfolk and traveled to California where they had their only child. When John was transferred to Japan Jean returned home to Norfolk to live with her father and mother in Lakewood. In Norfolk she resumed working for her father. Jean’s youngest sister, Barbara, her husband Wilson Steffe and their children lived at the home. Barbara took care of all the children while Jean and Wilson worked for Pop Tatem at his drugstores.
In 1962, upon his return from Japan, John and Jean moved to Levitt Town Pennsylvania near John’s new duty station at the Navy Air Station in Willow Grove New Jersey. John and Jean continued to move with the Corps to Camp Lejeune in 1964 and then Kaneohe Marine Corp Air Station on Oahu Hawaii in 1966. While in Hawaii, Jean re-took the Pharmacy Boards to be certified to practice and serve as a pharmacist. Jean returned home to Norfolk in 1967 after John was deployed to Viet Nam.
Jean put their son in school in Norfolk and then purchased a home in Virginia Beach in 1969 while John continued to serve the Marines. John’s final duty station was at the Marine Barracks Norfolk, retiring after 30 years of service. Jean and John made Virginia Beach their home until 2016. After serving as a Pharmacist for 60 years, Jean retired from the Navy’s Boone Clinic at Little Creek. They moved to Oak Island to be near their son and his family.
While the above summary outlines where Jean traveled, it fails to paint the picture of a wonderful woman who loved and gave and served. Her generosity knew no bounds and anything she had she shared. She deeply loved her family and her many dogs and cats. Jean sewed her and her son’s clothes, supported the Marine Corps wives at different duty stations and worked long hours on her feet as a pharmacist. She helped all who asked.
She loved Christmas morning, the heat of the summer sun on the beach and watching children play. Jean was a longtime member of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Virginia Beach and Brunswick County. She lived a rich, full life and is loved and remembered by all who knew her. She has left us to be embraced by the loving arms of those who have gone before. Jean was precede in death by her parents Eugene Carlisle Tatem and Virginia Breeding Tatem, her sister Mary Ellen Tatem Williams, her dearest Aunts Mary Breeding and Ollie Virginia Tatem.
She is survived by her husband of 66 years, John Bernard Bates; her son, John Carlisle Tatem Bates and his wife Lori Kuley-Bates, and their two children, Jessica Pearl Bates and Andrew Charles Bates; her youngest sister, Barbara Anne Tatem Steffe; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A viewing will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, November 11, 2023 at Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home, Great Neck Chapel. A private internment for family will be conducted 2 p.m., Saturday, November 11, 2023 at Princess Anne Memorial Park.
