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White River Junction, VT – Marilyn M. Gates, 93, passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 29, 2025, at Cedar Hill Health Care Center in Windsor, VT. She was born on July 2, 1931, in Hanover, NH to Percy N. and Louise (Roberts) Courtemanche and grew up in a large family. As one of the middle children with ten siblings, she was a natural negotiator, a skill she would use throughout her lifetime to construct compromises and help smooth the way in the family. After high school, she went to work at the VA Medical Center in 1949, and while she took a break for a time to work at an insurance company and a credit union, she soon returned to the VA until retirement in 1991.

She married John W. Gates on September 18, 1954, at St. Anthony Catholic Church in White River Junction. She continued to work and care for the household with three children; both parents lived the values of hard work and importance of family and strived to pass them on to the children. Family vacations were most often at the camp on Joe's Pond, where they kept up the camp and spent late afternoons and evenings fishing, boating, and water skiing. In later years, she and John adventured in their RV, snowmobiling in the winter near Island Pond and traveling to other parts of the US, often helping relatives with family business. Quiet moments were often reserved for reading and completing crossword puzzles and playing board games.

She is survived by two sons and a daughter; Philip and wife Carol of Derby, VT, Timothy and wife Joan of White River Junction, and Karen Farnsworth of Northfield, VT; three siblings, Carl Courtemanche of Apache Junction, AZ, Jean O'Neil of White River Junction, and Walter Courtemanche of West Lebanon, NH and Deland, FL; four grandchildren Scott, Ian, Amy, and Todd; six great grandchildren Sierra, Christian, Shawn, Meagan, Kaelyn, and Jennica; two great great grandchildren Aria and Nora; other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband John in 2021, and siblings Roger, Robert, Pauline, Claire, Raymond, Donald, and Margery.

A Funeral Mass will be held at 10 am on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at St. Anthony Catholic Church in White River Junction, followed by a burial at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Memorial donations to the Church are appreciated. Knight Funeral Home of White River Junction has been entrusted with arrangements and online condolences may be expressed at www.knightfuneralhomes.com.