A familiar short story of a long, full life for friends and family. An introduction to an extraordinary man for those who didn't have the pleasure of meeting, we invite you.

June 21, 1935, on the summer solstice, the first day of summer a son was born to Earl Yates and Mary Gertrude Pamplin Yates.  John Earl Yates came into this world in a bedroom of the family's home in Kansas City, Missouri. Four years later, Marilyn Elizabeth Yates Porterfield, his dear sister, was born.

His father had exceptional patience and musical ability that he passed on to his children. He worked as a baggage handler for the Railway Express and as an expert car mechanic. Mary Yates, a loving and involved mother was a seamstress, known for making quality custom curtains for those in the area.  Earl Yates spent those early years building his family a small house on a dirt road in the town of Barry, Missouri. Water was hauled from a spring across the street and it wasn't until the early 1950's that an indoor bathroom and running water was added.  Summertime was spent working on their large garden and playing in the vast area around their home. As a young boy, John would drive a tractor, helping on the farm. It's unknown if John turned over the tractor in a ditch before or after the neighbor's dog, Pete, sadly became peg leg Pete. Even with his early questionable driving skills, he went on to teach his sister how to drive the tractor.  When time allowed, fishing, squirrel hunting, learning how to play the guitar given to him by his father and building custom balsa wood airplanes filled those long, hot midwestern days. These were early signs of what would become his long life passions.

As the days shortened and became cooler, the potatoes and onions were put up in the tater house.  John and his sister were responsible for catching and hanging the chickens on the clothesline for "processing".  The beans and tomatoes were canned and favorite dill and sweet pickles were made. The grape vines produced enough for homemade jelly.  His mother's cooking, especially her peach cobbler, has not yet been matched.  School began during these last days of summer. Just down the road there was a two room school house with four grades in each of two classrooms. John excelled in school, especially in math, skipping fifth grade and graduating high school at sixteen. During this time, he earned the highest rank of Eagle Scout. He shared many stories of his scout experiences and was very proud of his God and County badge. It would take him about a year to earn this coveted badge.  By now he had learned the guitar well enough to play in local honkytonks with a band that he and his friends put together. They would sneak in until they were able to get special permission to play legally. The band had entered a talent show in which the winners would go on to perform at the Grand Old Opry; they came in second. It was then that he decided to change direction from music to focus on a college degree.

Again, John entered into a competition with first place receiving a scholarship to college. He came in second and decided to attend a local junior college, Metropolitan College, which was just down the road. He would attend school during the day and had progressed to playing gigs in Kansas City as a member of the Musician Union to earn money to pay for his education.  Two years later, he was accepted to the University of Kansas. He commuted from home in an old car his father put together. All was well until the seat fell through the bottom of the rusted car. He found a wooden box to sit on and continued driving to and from school and his gigs.

In 1955, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering and joined Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City. He would be an invaluable employee for seven years while working towards his Masters. In 1959, he received his Masters in Applied Mathematics from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. John's father sold two acres of the farm to help pay for the last year of graduate school.  His manager and mentor at Midwestern Research Institute encouraged John to pursue his doctorate. With a new wife, Letha Gail Warren and three young children, he entered Stanford University in California earning his Doctorate in Aeronautical Sciences in 1966.

Dr. John E. Yates accepted a position with Aeronautical Research Associates of Princeton, NJ. He left Stanford with his family and embarked on a six week cross-county trip. The family visited many National Parks along the way, especially seeking out waterfalls, which were loved by John. The family settled in Princeton, NJ in the summer of 1966.

John's professional career would span six decades. The accolades and accomplishments increased in number and importance.  Some of the most notable projects would be his work on panel designs for the Saturn V rocket and other projects for NASA, the Navy and the Air Force. He completed analysis of Fin Flutter on a currently flying supersonic missile. His most advance concept, the "DILLET" was tested on the model of the SEAWOLF class nuclear powered submarines. THE "DILLET" was a device shown experimentally to reduce the intensity of the necklace interference vorticity.  His work was used in the analysis or design in over 260 vehicles. These included all of the current U.S. submarines, torpedoes, the Large Scale Vehicle, 75 towed vehicles and 75 plus sonar vehicles.  He would spend endless hours intently writing on his countless pads of graph paper. His children kindly referred to his work as "hieroglyphics," which eventually filled 44 banker boxes of handwritten work. There was no need for his level of security clearance at home as we had no clue what it all meant. And yet, as brilliant as he was, John was unable to teach his children the classic freight train problem!

His intense professional work was balanced with his love of Barbershop singing. For 54 years he was fully invested with the society, as an active member with the Princeton Garden Statesmen, Hunterdon Harmonizers, Brothers' in Harmony and singing in several quartets. John's contributions included being an assistant director, director, singing coach and song arranger.

Later in life, John chose to stop performing due to the rigor of standing on risers for long periods of time. He would continue to support his chapters by traveling to Barbershop shows and international competitions as moral support. In January of 2023, the Garden Statesmen inducted John into their Hall of Fame.

After his three children moved out and off the payroll, he immersed himself in new hobbies. These included windsurfing and restoring an eighteenth century home that he named The Vinca Farmstead at Ten Mile Run, an homage to his early years. He referred to his farm as his pre-Mozart home.  Albeit a gentlemen's farm, there was no garden or hanging chickens. Vinca Farmstead was a wonderful gathering place for friends and family. He would indulge his guests with his love of cooking, especially traditional Chinese cuisine, one of his many culinary explorations. He was however, never able to convince his children that squirrel head soup and dumplings was delicious.

After retiring at the age of 75, he devoted his time to working on the farmstead. He would fully restore his 18th century home to last another three hundred years. He would take pride in the park-like grounds that he reclaimed from being an overgrown horse pasture.  Towards the later years of his life, John reignited his love of jazz guitar relearning his favorite jazz songs.

Family gatherings would include an awesome evening of working out songs to play with his son on bass and sons-in-law on sax and drums.  He treasured these times with his family, as get togethers with all three children were infrequent since they lived throughout the east coast.

One of John admirable traits was his belief in giving. He contributed yearly to over 62 charities such as St. Jude's, Salvation Army, Meals on Wheels, Feed the Children and many, many more. He knew he was fortunate and wanted to give back.

June 13, 2023, eight days shy of the summer solstice, the first day of summer and John Earl Yates' 88th birthday, he closed his eyes for the final time. Although he is no longer with us physically, the friendships he forged over the years will not be forgotten.  Moreover, the values he instilled in his children of patience, kindness and humility will live on indefinitely.

John was pre-deceased by his parents Earl and Mary Yates and his ex-wife Gail Yates. He is survived by his sister Marilyn Porterfield and husband Larry of Missouri; his children, daughter Christine Young, husband Robert and their daughter Dr. Jessica Young MD of Connecticut; daughter Karen Yates-King, husband Thomas and their daughter Emily Rodriguez, husband Johan and son Dr. Colin King MD, of Georgia. Son John Yates, wife Stasia and their son Jack and daughter Katie of Connecticut. Nephew Mark Carder and niece Brenda Kerrick -Gage and three great grandchildren.

The family would like to extend their appreciation to Penn Medicine and Princeton Medical Group for their kind care.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Vinca Farmstead on September 16th from 11:00am to 2:00pm. If you plan to attend, please let us know by sending an email to johnyatescelebrationoflife@gmail.com.