Boyce Lesslie Oates

York – Boyce Lesslie Oates, 91, of 299 South Parham Road, died Saturday, April 12. 2014, at CMC of Charlotte.

There will be a viewing at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Tirzah ARP Church. Funeral services will follow at 2:00 PM at the church with Rev. Andrew Putnam officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends after the service.

Born in York, Mr. Oates was the son of the late Isaac Leroy and Margaret Cavney Oates and the husband of the late Mildred Clarke Oates.

Boyce was a lifelong active member of Tirzah ARP Church where he served as a deacon, sang in the choir, a member of the Men’s Fellowship, worked with the young people, taught Sunday School and was the Sunday School Superintendent. He retired from Celanese after 43 years in 1986. He was an avid farmer who loved raising cattle and taking them to the sale barn. He also enjoyed growing vegetables and sharing them with his friends and family. As a young man he was a fox hunter. He will be remembered as a loving father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

He is survived by two sons, David Oates (Janice) and Isaac Lewis Oates (Shirley); two brothers, David B. Oates (Geneva) and Howard Oates (Wanda); one sister, Agnes Channell (Charles); three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by a son, Boyce L. Oates Jr.; two brothers, Isaac Leroy Oates Jr. and John C. Oates; two sisters, Dorothy Harper and Nancy Baker.

Memorials may be made to the Tirzah ARP Church Building Fund, 6161 Mt. Gallant Road, York, S.C., 29745.

Condolences may be sent to www.whitesellfuneralhome.net.