Virginia Kates volunteered for nearly 70 years with the American Legion Auxiliary and for many years at Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital west of Chicago.
“She was a very strong supporter of Hines,” said Debra Lewis, Illinois state president of the American Legion Auxiliary. “She volunteered (there) for more than 23 years. She was very dedicated.”
Kates served many roles with the auxiliary, including as a 10-term president of the auxiliary unit of the now-defunct R.J. Hagamann American Legion Post on Chicago’s Southwest Side, as well as in state and national leadership posts.
The national organization, the world’s largest women’s patriotic service group, serves veterans, active military and their families both at home and abroad.
Kates, 102, died of natural causes on Flag Day, June 14, in hospice care at Mercy Hospital in Chicago, according to her niece, Barbara Posner. She lived independently for years at Peace Village in Palos Park.
Born Virginia Cashman, she grew up in Chicago. She graduated from the since-closed Mercy High School, then near 81st Street and Prairie Avenue. From there she took classes at what was then St. Xavier College in Chicago, now St. Xavier University.
She married Clarence Kates in 1943, while he was serving in the Navy in the Pacific. They were married for more than 60 years when he died in 2006.
The couple became involved with the American Legion after the war. In addition to serving as president of the Hagamann post, she served as district and county president and Illinois state president, her niece said.
“It was her career path,” Posner said. “She made this her life’s work.”
Kates also was active with an affiliated organization, the Forty and Eight, which focuses on child welfare, provides scholarships for the training of nurses and also supports sports programs for young people facing challenges of all kinds. At one time she served as the group’s central division president, her niece said.
Lewis said Kates was also a strong supporter of Girls State, summer leadership and citizenship programs sponsored by the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary for high school juniors. The program is a government simulation exercise in which the students form into cities and participate in mock versions of many of the steps of running a government.
Lewis spoke from this year’s program, where 330 students are gathered at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. One of the simulated cities is Kates City, named after Kates in 1983 after she completed her term as Illinois auxiliary president.
“Virginia would always call and inquire about her ‘city,'” Lewis said.
As a leader, Kates stood out for her devotion to the organization, said Gailwyn Starr, a former Illinois state auxiliary president and now president of a Chicago area district. Starr she said was committed to the auxiliary’s work and programs on behalf of veterans and their families.
Kates worked to help hospitalized veterans, making sure their needs and voices were heard and that they received the care they earned with their service.
Starr said that when Kates was state president in 1982, she chose as her theme “setting the pace to help our veterans.” As a symbol of that, Kates chose an Indianapolis 500 racing car, telling friends, “I love to drive fast.”
Kates also was known for her notes, both for their content and their style. “She had a beautiful talent for writing,” Lewis said, “and gorgeous scrolling penmanship.” Her way with words also came to the fore when she talked about the auxiliary’s work.
“She could tell you the (organization’s) story in such a lovely and poetic way,” Starr said. “She was a legend to us.”
In addition to her niece, Kates is survived by her sister, Gloria McGrath, another niece and a nephew.
Services were held.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter.
