UNK Sam Gates

Obituary – Charles Gates, had own appliance store, Kentucky Post (Covington) (October 16, 1993)

S. Charles Gates, 81, graduated from the University of Kentucky during the Depression when jobs weren’t easy to find.

He used his business degree to teach typing and bookkeeping during night classes at Holmes High School to save enough money to start his own business – Gates Home Appliances on Madison Avenue in Covington.

“We opened the store after World War II and sold all kinds of appliances and toys and Lionel trains,” said his wife, Helen Frisch Gates of Edgewood. “We were one of the first stores to sell televisions.”

Mr. Gates died at 6:34 p.m. Thursday at St. Elizabeth Medical Center South.

The Gates opened the store at 9:30 and closed it at 5:30 every day for more than 30 years.

“We eventually gave up the appliances to go into the record business,” Mrs. Gates aid. “We sold records during the time when music was music and songs were on the hit charts for weeks and weeks.”

The store closed in 1977.

Ms. Gates was the president of the Covington Merchants Association for several years.

“He was a good athlete,” Mrs. Gates said. “He played basketball in high school and college. He ran track in college. He also liked golf.”

Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Trinity Episcopal Church, Covington. Family will receive friends immediately following the services at the church. Swindler and Currin Funeral Home, Latonia, is in charge of arrangements. Burial will be in Spring Hill Cemetery, Sandusky, Ind.