Guy Yates

Services will be at 4:00 P.M. on Friday, February 6, 2015 at the Alumni Banquet Hall on the campus of WTAMU with Father Robert A. Busch, Ph.D. officiating. Burial will be in Llano Cemetery. Guy Paul Yates was born on April 22, 1934 in O'Brien to Chester Lewis and Liddie Belle Thompson Yates. He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Guy received his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from West Texas State College and completed his coursework for the doctorate at the University of Kansas. He taught at Bowie Jr. High, Caprock High School, and at WTSU/WTAMU from 1969 to 2000. He served as national director of American Forensics Association and received Distinguished Service Awards from Pi Kappa Delta , the University Interscholastic League, the Texas Speech Communication Association, and most recently was inducted into the WTAMU Communication Hall of Fame. He was a lifetime member of the Texas Speech Communication Association and the National Communication Association. He was a professor emeritus at WTAMU and was also a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Forensics Association. He served as tournament director for a number of years with the National Individual Events Tournament. Guy was a national icon in the speech, debate, and communication field and impacted so many people with his kind and gentle spirit. He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, LaQueta Koenig. Survivors include a sister, Katherine Simpson and husband, Gary, of Whitewright; niece, Judy Ann Alonso and husband, Robert, of Tacoma, WA; his nieces and nephews, Debrah Buchanan, Barbara Newkirk, Larry Bement, Gregory Bement and wife, Jana, and Shawn Simpson and wife, Rhonda; numerous great nieces and great nephews; his special friends, Dr. Buni Leigh Browning and Michael Hager; and a very special pet, Sasha. The family suggests memorials be to the Guy Yates Forensic Scholarship, WTAMU Box 60909, Canyon, Texas 79016.