Arlys A. Bates, 78 of Bowman, ND died on Thursday, June 3, 2010 at the Southwest Healthcare Hospital in Bowman.

Funeral Services for Arlys will be at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at the Bowman Lutheran Church. Pastor Galen Strand and Pastor Charles Swanson will officiate with burial to follow in the Bowman Cemetery. There will be a family and friends service on Monday, June 7, 2010 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Bowman Lutheran Church.

Arlys was born Aug. 29, 1931 the fourth child of Jacob and Clara (Rockswold) Smedshammer in north LaMoure County, North Dakota. She attended her grade school and high school years in Litchville, North Dakota, graduating in 1949. Arlys then went to Bismarck to attend the Bismarck Hospital School of Nursing to earn her registered nurse degree. In 1953 she married Kenneth M. Bates. They would spend time traveling throughout the Midwest and southern states as Kenneth worked as a welder and Arlys found jobs as a temporary nurse wherever they went. In 1956, their daughter Jennifer was born. In 1958, they moved to Bowman where they continued to live until the time of both of their deaths. Two more children were born, Berton in 1961 and Sandi in 1963. In 1965, the nursing home administrator asked Arlys if she could come to work to help them get started. It would take 28 years before she thought things were running ok and she could retire. Her kids loved growing up at the nursing home and continue to have great relationships with older people because of the lessons their mom taught them. Arlys was all about sticking up for the underdog. She said what she believed and believed what she said. The kids in Bowman knew she was their forever basketball fan. In life, she probably sewed something like a million yards of fabric and was teased that she would maybe go through withdrawal if she got under 500 yards in the house. Her family was blessed to have beautifully tailored clothes. Education of was utmost importance to Arlys and she provided not only monetary scholarships but words of encouragement all the time. She was a generous soul with an incredible faith in Jesus.

Arlys is survived by her son, Berton and his wife, Roxie, and sons Casey and Tyler and daughter, Danielle, Watford City, N.D.; and daughter, Sandi, Grand Forks; one great granddaughter, Mya; and the "other Bates kids" Patrick and Carla Kelly, and their daughters Kaitlyn, Megan and Erin; her brother Oren Smedshammer (Nadine); sister Ethlyn (Conrad) Paulson; sister Lois Peterson; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth; daughter Jennifer; her parents, and one brother, Myron Smedshammer.



Memorials are preferred to the MedCenter One College of Nursing Class of '52 Scholarship.