Funeral services for Ruth Gilliland Bates,80 , of Cullman, will be at 2 p.m., Friday March 14, 2025 at Mt. Hope Baptist Church, Revs. Paul Campbell and Greg Aldredge officiating with interment in adjoining cemetery. The body will lie in state from 12 noon – 2 p.m. at the church.
Cullman Funeral Home is honored to serve the family.
Mrs. Bates entered into her Heavenly home on the afternoon of March 9, 2025. Ruth was born in Athens, Alabama to Jesse and Flossie Gilliland on August 20, 1944. Ruth married Aubrey Bates on March 14, 1964. They were married for sixty years and had two children, Teresa Bates Mauldin and Terry Bates. She had four granddaughters, Katie Parker, Anna Mauldin, and Sarah Graves, and Teryn Bates. She had one great granddaughter, Ava Jane Parker. Ruth had four siblings which include her twin sister, Ruby Gilliland Overton, and the late Gene Gilliland, Kenneth Gilliland, and Margerian Gilliland.
Ruth was a loving mother, wife, mawmaw, and friend. She worked hard to provide for her family and cared about helping others. She was a faithful member of Mt. Hope Baptist Church and was a dedicated member of the church choir. She loved singing hymns and praises to her Lord! She enjoyed being involved during Vacation Bible School and keeping the nursery at Mt. Hope Church.
Ruth loved keeping children. She kept many kids throughout the Crane Hill Community. If anyone needed a babysitter, everyone knew to call Ruth Bates. Ruth and Aubrey had a large garden for many years and they enjoyed working alongside one another gathering their harvest and putting produce up for the winter. Ruth enjoyed taking a walk in her yard with someone and admiring all the beautiful flowers and things she had blooming. Her animals were often by her side. Ruth loved being with her family and spending time with them. She loved listening to her granddaughters play and sing bluegrass gospel music and would often sing along with them. Ruth was a caring, compassionate, loving lady who blessed many lives in her eighty years.
Ruth will be dearly missed by her family and friends, but they know she is rejoicing with her Lord and singing on the streets of gold in Heaven. She is surrounded by her loved ones who have gone on before her and she has now been reunited with her loving husband once again.
Survivors include her daughter, Teresa (Tom) Mauldin; son Terry Bates; granddaughters Katie Parker (Caleb), Anna Mauldin, Sarah Graves (William), and Teryn Bates; great granddaughter, Ava Jane Parker; twin sister, Ruby Overton (Horace); brother-in-law, Kenneth Bates (Joyce); and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and dear friends.
She was proceeded in death by her husband, Aubrey Bates; her parents, Jesse and Flossie Gilliland; her brothers Gene and Kenneth Gilliland; and her sister Margerian Gilliland.
Pallbearers will be Billy Overton, Danny Overton, Dakota Overton, Andy Gilliland, Nathan Bates, Toby Bates, Marty Bates and Wes Sweatman.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Banner Church or Gideon International.
Both organizations proudly serve our Lord. Here are the links for these groups:
(https://www.bannerchurchjax.com/give/ ) ( https://www.gideons.org/ )
Direct addresses for these organizations can be given to you upon request.
Obituary lovingly written by Mrs. Bates’s family.
