John Edward Bates was born to Annoise Lorraine Bates and James Martinus Bates Sr. on November 7, 1960 in Saginaw, Michigan, the tenth child of eleven children. He passed away February 16, 2026 at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center in Woodbridge, Virginia.

John attended Jones Elementary, Central Junior High and Saginaw High School. In high school he was a member of both the yearbook committee and Quill & Scroll, an international club of high school journalists. John completed his Bachelor's Degree in Marketing at Michigan State University. He relocated after graduation to Chicago, Maryland and later Virginia. He retired in 2023 as a project manager for CVS Pharmacy Inc.

John was called "Johnny Cake" as a child by his father and neighborhood friends. He was enterprising as a child with his "nightcrawlers" farm. That "farm" was a special box that his father built for him and his sister Jeanetta. We don't recall him ever being a fisherman, but he and Jeanetta made a pretty penny catching and selling the fish bait. In the early 1970s, he and his nephew Willie Wright Jr. - "Champ" to family - built his father a brick barbecue grill in the backyard on Cherry Street and although it has not been used in a long time, it still stands. John vacationed annually in Myrtle Beach with friends for sun, fun and - primarily - golf. He, his cousin Robert "Bobby" Thomas and friends enjoyed attending race car events, car shows and auctions. He also was a pretty good mechanic and enjoyed a bit of gardening.

John is survived by siblings, Joyce Williams, Jacqueline Bates, Jeraldine Burnell, Julia (Tonza) Price, Jeanetta Bates and Jennifer Bates; nieces, Regina Ryan, Cynthia Wright, Tangya Moore, Rachel Burnell, Rochelle (Damon Sr.) Grant, Jenise Bates, Jana (Robert) Bates Brown, Shontell Tillman, Bria Burnell and Jamia Bates; nephews, Willie Wright, Jr., Winfred Morgan, Jr., Corey (Tiombe) Morgan, Sr., Herschel Burnell III, Jamarr Bates, Sr., Charles Bates, Sr., Justin Burnell, Torrance Burnell, Tonza Price II and Jonathan Price; several grandnieces and grandnephews; brother-in-law, Willie Wright, Sr.; aunts, Marcene Ramsey and Fannie Bates; and uncle, Walter Bates. He also leaves many cousins in Virginia, Pennsylvania and throughout the country. John also leaves a significant other, Darla Douthitt; and a close friend, Craig Geris.

John was preceded in death by his parents Lorraine and James; sisters Joan Wright and Jocelyn Jackson; brothers James Bates Jr. and Jeffrey Bates; brother-in-law Donald Williams; sister-in-law Martha Bates; maternal grandparents, Robert and Ovella Bates; paternal grandparents James and Fannie Bates and step grandmother Catherine Bates; uncles Robert E. Bates, Joe B. McCurdy Sr., Willie Sykes, the Rev. Frederick Jones, Roland Thomas Sr., Jesse Bates, Charles Ramsey Sr., Lloyd Diggs Sr., Marvin Bates, Reginald Bates, Gilbert Davis, Herman Peterson, Walter McClenton, Lawrence Davis and Herbert Mallory Sr.; aunts Emma Bates, Sylvia McCurdy, Ione Sykes, Mary C. Jones, Dorothy Thomas, Pauline Diggs, Luretta Bates, Hazel Davis, Edith Peterson, Addie McClenton, Virginia Davis, Pearl Mallory, Aleene Rogers and Phyllis Bates; special cousins Janet McCurdy Miller and Robert (Bobby) Thomas.

A viewing will be held at A.L. Bennett and Son Funeral Home, 200 Butternut Drive, Fredericksburg, VA, 22408, on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at 11:00 AM followed by the interment at Sisson Family Cemetery, in Triangle, VA.