- Date Of Birth: June 24, 1928
- Date Of Death: September 20, 2016
- State: Utah
James Arlo Yates
June 24, 1928-September 20, 2016
How does one summarize a man who was larger than life? Certainly not by physical stature, as I personally towered over Grandpa and yet I will continue looking up to him with the rest of his family until we too have passed from this life.
He was the youngest of James and Leona Rose Yates’ four children. Named after his dad, he didn’t like to be called “Jim” or “Jimmy” and chose instead to go by his middle name, Arlo. The family moved from the small railroad town of Kelton, UT to Corrine, UT when he was a boy. Here he met his sweetheart of 67 years, Carol Mae Rader. She would remain his passion in life until the end.
Losing his father at the age of twelve created a special bond with his older brother, Jay, and his father-in-law, Chet Rader. Throughout his life he would speak fondly of each of them. Chet and Gwen Rader valued family above all else and passed these values onto Arlo and Carol. Arlo felt at home here and insisted his family visit his in-laws each Sunday, even after moving his young family to Roy. He loved their hunting heritage, their fun-loving nature, and their enthusiasm for the outdoors and later passed this lifestyle on to his own family. Chet mentored Arlo in being self-sufficient and resourceful. Arlo was bold and tenacious and there were very few tasks he ever hired out relating to mechanics or construction. I will forever appreciate the way he always gave himself an out when taking on a repair he hadn’t performed before and where the solution wasn’t obvious. He would say, “I don’t know, Brandon. I’m not an [electrician, plumber, mechanic, etc.]” Without fail his perseverance would pay off (surprising only himself) and succeeding in his task he would clap his hands together and exclaim jokingly, “I’m so good it doesn’t even matter!”
He would enlist and teach these skills to those who worked for him in the beverage business when repairing vending machines.
