Jim R Gatewood

The family of Jim Gatewood is sad to announce his passing on the morning of March 25, 2022 after a short illness.

Jim was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 27, 1929 to Evelyn Mullaney Gatewood and James Raleigh Gatewood, Sr. His father a Chicago stockbroker, like so many others, was wiped out in that crash. His mother put him in a laundry basket and placed him in the back seat of their 1929 Hudson automobile and the family left for California where the banks had not closed. They drove on dirt roads, there were no paved roads at that time. When the car broke down in Dallas his dad applied for and got a job at Rauscher Pierce Investment Bankers and the family stayed. Ultimately, Jim would spend his entire life in Dallas as a successful insurance agency owner and today bears the public acknowledgement of a great storyteller and historian. He engaged his listeners carrying them back in time to long-forgotten places and revealing the secrets hidden away in the dusty attics of time.

Jim grew up on his parents' farm in Garland. He attended Garland High School and his senior year was the captain of the "Fighting Garland Owls" football team. He met his sweetheart, Ruth Snoddy, on a visit home from Cornell College in Iowa. A year later upon her graduation they were married at the old Garland Methodist Church. He started out as a brick layer, then worked at the Kraft cheese factory. He and Ruth lived on the second story of a house across the street from the Betty Pickle factory where they brought their first baby girl home, Donna. Soon after they had a son, Jim, and later another baby girl, Christine. By this time Jim had become a successful life insurance salesman.

Jim enjoyed hunting with his friends and family and wrote articles of his hunting and fishing adventures for outdoor magazines. He liked to travel, taking his family on many an exciting road trip adventure. He always loved a good story. In mid life he started his second career, writing. His circle of law enforcement friends and their vintage stories of Sheriff Bill Decker whet his appetite for writing and publishing books about Dallas History. He decided to listen to all the old-timers in the Dallas / Fort Worth area to record the unwritten history of the area. He wrote and published 10 books about local heroes and anti heroes. Richland College invited Jim to be a visiting instructor. He loved the research, hearing the stories and crafting an enjoyable tale to record. And he really enjoyed sharing the information he had collected for his books to a variety of different audiences.

Jim was preceded in death by his parents James and Evelyn Gatewood, his wife of 66 years Ruth Gatewood, his sisters Anne Meazle and Mary Nichols, and a grandson, Harold Gatewood Brown.
Jim Gatewood is survived by daughter Donna Brown and her husband Randy, Christine Ross and her husband Charlie, son Jim Gatewood III and his wife Kathy. Jim's grandchildren are Evelyn Lichtenauer, (wife of Michael) Josie Ross (soon-to-be wife of Blake) and Nicholas Ross. Jim leaves grandchildren James Raleigh Gatewood and Matthew Raleigh Gatewood (husband of Chloe) and his great grandchildren; Walker Ross, Wesley and Atticus Lichtenauer, and great grandsons Oliver and Porter Gatewood. Jim is also survived by his sister Virginia Clower.
Jim's funeral will be on Monday, April 4, 2022 with visitation at 1:00 pm and service at 2:00 pm at Eastgate Funeral Home, 1910 Eastgate Drive, Garland, Texas, 75041.
The family has requested that remembrances be made in the form of a tribute gift to support
Parkinson's Disease research at The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (please see link below:)

https://www.michaeljfox.org/donate