Erskine E. Scates Sr. [1909-1979]
Individual, Scates_Erskine
Lifetime
1909 – 1979About
The Daily Sentinel – Grand Junction, CO Monday, July 23, 1979 Erskine E. Scates
Erskine E. Scates, 69, who died early Saturday in La Villa Grande nursing home, was known throughout Western Colorado as a missionary-evangelist and retired president of the Intermountain Bible College. In 48 years of pursuing the Christian mission which called him to Colorado in 1931, Mr. Scates had ministered to churches in Pueblo, Salida, Palisade Nucla, Montrose and Clifton. He established a number of churches, including the Northeast Christian Church and Orchard Mesa Christian churches in Grand Junction, others in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.
He, along with John Ball and Earl Heald, founded Intermountain Bible College in 1946. Under his leadership the college soon outgrew its modest quarters and eventually plans were made for the new campus on Patterson Road. Construction of the first of three projected buildings is nearing completion. Mr. Scates helped organize church sponsored youth camps on Grand Mesa and near new Castle for 30 years. He also produced and taught a Sunday morning radio program with was known to thousands of listeners. He traveled widely as evangelist, producer of religious plays, and conductor of college-sponsored tours to churches throughout the West.
Scates came to Colorado in 1931 as missionaries, assigned initially as state evangelist. During the depression he also worked as miner, farmer, newspaper publisher, public school teacher and principle, debate coach and judge. He was an enthusiastic supporter of high school and college sports and a skilled fisherman familiar with Western Colorado’s streams.
Mr. Scates was born August 4, 1909, near Fairview, Okla. His first ministry, at the age of 17, was in Cleo Springs, Okla. He married Faith Marie Berger Nov. 28, 1928, in Oklahoma City. He earned degrees from Phillips University at Enid, Okla., including a bachelor of arts in 1928, a master of arts in 1930, and a bachelor of divinity in 1931. Surviving in addition to Mrs. Scates are five sons, Erskine E. Scates Jr., a minister in Albuquerque, N.M.; David R. Scates, a missionary to the Navajo at Dolores; Harry D. Scates, a missionary to Uberlandia, Brazil, W. Thomas Scates, a teacher and lobbyist at Winfield, Kan.; and J. C. ‘Tim’ Scates, an attorney in Denver; three sisters, two of who are Irma M. Rowse of Durango and Nona E. Olbert of Fruita; fifteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. McLean Funeral Home.
Erskine Edward Scates, Sr. Intermountain Christian September 1979 – Vol. 29 No. 9 College Founder Dies
Erskine E. Scates, age 69, past president and founder of Intermountain Bible College and area minister-evangelist, died July 21, 1979, at La Villa Grande Health Care Center. Surviving are his wife, Faith Marie of 562 Bluff Court, Grand Junction, and fie sons: Erskine E. Scates, Jr., minister, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Dr. David R. Scates, missionary to the Navajo people, Dolores, Colorado; Harry D. Scates, missionary, Uberlandia, Brazil; W. Thomas Scates, teacher and lobbyist, Winfield, Kansas; and J. C. Tim Scates, attorney, Denver. He is also survived by his three sisters, Mrs. Irma M. Rowse of Durango, Mrs. Nona E. Olbert of Fruita, and Mrs. Merle I. Cassidy of Bakersfield, California, and by fifteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by one son, Richard N. in 1950.
Mr. Scates was born August 4, 1909, near Fairview, Oklahoma. He received his B.A. (1929), M.A. (1930), and B.D. (1931) degrees from Phillips University, Enid, Oklahoma. Two years after his first church ministry at age seventeen in Cleo Springs, Oklahoma, he married Faith Marie Berger on November 28, 1928, in Oklahoma City. He and his wife came to Colorado in 1931 as “missionaries” and he first served as a state evangelist.
The next forty-eight years were spent in Western Colorado and the Intermountain Region preaching and planting non-denominational Christian Churches in nearly every town and city of Western Colorado.
Most recently, Mr. Scates retired on January 21st, 1978, as President of Intermountain Bible College, which he helped establish in 1946. In 1978, over six hundred people honored Mr. Scates for his fifty years of commitment to non-denominational churches and the Bible college. He was well known for his simple manner of friendship, counseling and love to thousands of families and young people. He traveled widely throughout the Western United States as an evangelist and convention speaker. He was widely known for his devotion to his special ministry of preaching, planting churches, and building a Bible college to provide leadership to local churches and on mission fields. Mr. Scates ministered to local churches in Oklahoma and the towns and cities of Pueblo, Salida, Palisade, Nucla, Montrose, Clifton and Grand Junction (Northeast Christian and Orchard Mesa Christian Church). His ministry of planting churches spanned communities in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.
Mr. Scates was known to tens of thousands as producer and radio teacher on a Sunday morning program for over thirty years. During and for many years after the Depression, he was also well known where his family lived and he worked as a farmer, miner, newspaper publisher, public school teacher and principal, producer of religious plays, debate coach and judge, and college instructor. Known for his interest in young people, Mr. Scates, for over twenty-five years, organized and led summer camps on Grand Mesa and New Castle where he helped initiate church youth camps. Until shortly before his retirement from Intermountain Bible College, he had traveled hundreds of thousands of miles throughout the Western United States on tours with Bible college students.