The Rev. Craig Richard Hunter Gates was a jovial priest who loved God and the company of family, friends, good food, good wine and opera.
The Rev. Gates, 67, the former rector of Greenwood’s Episcopal Church of the Nativity, died Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014, in a Nashville hospital, according to friend and Nativity parishioner Wallie Stuckey.
The cause of death was not available this morning.
A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Jackson. Visitation at the cathedral will start at 9 a.m.
The Rev. Gates’ death rippled through the Episcopal Church leadership.
“I could certainly say that Craig was a larger-than-life person. His compassion was as big as all outdoors,” said Mississippi Bishop Duncan Gray III.
“Craig overflowed in so many ways in his care, concern and affection for the people committed to his charge,” Gray said.
Gray’s son, the Rev. Peter Gray, serves as rector of Nativity today.
“Craig and (his wife) Dorothy were close family friends. I knew him first in that capacity,” Peter Gray said.
“Both amongst my peers who knew him in the diocese as well as my parishioners, he will be remembered for his gifts as a pastor and caregiver as well as his booming voice, which was usually accompanied by a bear hug,” the priest said.
Word of the Rev. Gates’ death made the rounds among Nativity’s congregation Sunday night.
“We’re all a lot poorer for his being gone,” said Mary Dent Deaton Lucas, a longtime parishioner.
The Rev. Gates became rector at Nativity on Oct. 1, 1994. He served in the position until his retirement in 2005. He still lived for several years in Greenwood after retiring, filling in at Episcopal churches in need of a priest, before he and his wife moved to Monteagle, Tenn.
Lucas served as the Rev. Gates’ parish administrator and director of the choir early in his tenure at the church. “He was certainly nice to work for,” she said.
Lucas’ husband, Dr. John Fair Lucas Jr., a longtime parishioner at Nativity, said the Rev. Gates was “well-liked by everybody in the parish. You couldn’t help but like him.”
Even after his retirement, the Rev. Gates would frequently officiate at services at the church.
“A lot of people, if they were getting married, they wanted him. If there was a funeral, the family would want him,” said Dr. Lucas.
Longtime parishioner Hugh Warren III remembered the Rev. Gates as a happy person.
“He loved good food, he loved good music,” Warren said.
Stuckey said that the Rev. Gates was “really a people person. He would take care of people in his congregation. I think that was his strong point.”
Outside the church setting, Stuckey said, the Rev. Gates was “a good friend. He loved to cook and loved to eat. It didn’t take much for him to invite people over.”
The Rev. Gates had a collection of opera CDs, and he could be easily coaxed to break out in song.
Those human qualities are what made the minister special, Stuckey said.
“He was so human, you could identify with him. He was a priest, but he was a human priest.”
