Kenneth "The Doctor" Bates left this life to return to the open arms of his creator on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.

Kenneth, the son of the late Cecil Bates and Dorothy Bell Rogers, was born on October 7, 1951, in Christian County, KY.

He attended Booker T. Washington Grammar School, Attucks High School, and Hopkinsville, High School, before graduating from the Louisville College of Computer Sciences.

Mr. Bates was a former Christian County Magistrate District 1, Deputy Sheriff, and District 1 Constable, City Administrator for 2 ^nd Street Park, and Hopkinsville Human Relations Commissioner. Now retired, he formerly worked as a computer programmer and analyst, electrical and plumbing inspector, and traffic manager, and served as Chief Union Steward of the United Auto Workers, Local 1807 and retired from Phelps Dodge.

In addition to the foregoing, Mr. Bates is an award-winning Gospel Music performer (instrumentalist and Soloist) who has contemporaneously served as a longtime on-air radio personality, Gospel Music Workshop of America Radio Announcer, talk show and Gospel Music show host, and/or public affairs director at several area radio stations, including WHOP, WNKJ, WQKS, WZZF, WQKS, and WBVR for 45+ years. He is also an ordained deacon, senior trustee, music director, and Sunday school superintendent and teacher at the Original Church of God (Sanctified). He is also a member of the Gospel Pioneers in Hopkinsville, KY.

Mr. Bates previously served as Director of the Christian County Sickle Cell Foundation, Inc.; current Vice President and Past President of the Hopkinsville Eastside Neighborhood Association; and current member of the Hopkinsville Transportation Advisory Committee, Hopkinsville-Christian County Airport Board, Hopkinsville Downtown Renaissance Board, Christian County Agriculture Extension District Foundation, Grand Marshall Christmas Parade Guthrie, KY, TLC Daycare Board, and Cultural Community Local Food-Local Places Steering Committee. Previously, he served as a member of the Boys and Girls Clubs Steering Committee and Christian County Community Early Child Care Committee.

Among many professional and civic associations, Mr. Bates was recently elected President of the Hopkinsville Christian Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Radio Broadcaster Association, National Gospel Announcers Guild, Kentucky Association of Mitigation Managers, National Association of Counties, Kentucky Association of Counties, and the Kentucky Bar association Board of Governors. He was a Kentucky Colonel and Kenneth Bates' Day was deemed, per Mayor Carter Kendricks, on October 8, 2017.

Survivors include his son, Donyance (Heli) Owen of Fairfield, CA; 1 Grandchild, Oskar Owen; and a host of other relatives and friends.