Funeral services for Mary Lee Oates of Adrian, Missouri will be 2 p.m. Thursday, September 3, 2026 at Schowengerdt Funeral Chapel (660-679-6555) in Butler, Missouri. Visitation prior to services 1 - 2 p.m. Thursday at the Schowengerdt Chapel. Burial in Crescent Hill Cemetery, Adrian. Contributions to Western Missouri Antique Tractor Association. Online condolences www.schowengerdtchapel.com.
Mary Lee Stark Oates was born January 2, 1932 to Willie Stark and Beulah Mae Boyd Stark in rural Adrian, MO. She was united in marriage to Patrick Lloyd Oates on December 3, 1949 in Independence, MO. From this union, 4 children were born–Patricia, Scott, Jerry, and Phillip.
Mary graduated from Adrian R-III High School, and was a proud member of the class of 1949. She attended Kansas City Business College, and worked for GMAC and Western Auto. When Pat was drafted and stationed in Anchorage, Alaska, she drove a 1952 Plymouth on the Alaska Highway to be with him.
She and Pat returned to the area after his tour ended and they settled in Kansas City before they moved home to rural Adrian. She milked cows by hand, drove tractors, and raised and butchered chickens with her extended family. In 1967, she and Pat became the owners of Adrian Meats, which they ran until the summer of 2000. Her name was on her own brand of sausage and cured meat products. Through the years, countless families came to Mary Lee in times of need and were never turned away hungry.
Mary was baptized at the Adrian Methodist Church on March 22, 1964, and has remained a member of that congregation. In her life, Mary was devoted to her family and the larger community. She was a volunteer on the local ambulance crew and taught CPR and Advanced First Aid in the 1970s and 80s. She served as a 4-H leader, a TOPS member, and she received an honorary degree from the Adrian FFA. Mary was a member of the Western MO Antique Tractor Association Ladies Auxiliary. She spent years volunteering as a Sunday School teacher and leader at the Adrian Methodist Church. One of her special joys in life was driving a school bus for the Adrian School District, and showing kindness and joy to a generation of kids.
Mary was witty and fun and quick with a joke, mostly inappropriate. Her smile and welcoming presence made everyone feel special and loved and accepted. She kept candy at the locker so kids on that side of town would come see her. She loved to play cards and would try to win by any means possible. She was a guiding light to so many of her immediate family, extended family, and friends and neighbors.
She is survived by her sons, William Scott Oates and wife Janet Oates; Jerry Dean Oates, and Phillip Wayne Oates and wife Sherri Oates, all of Adrian; and son-in-law Joe Boyles, of Rich Hill, 14 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Pat, her daughter, Patricia Ann Boyles, her daughter in law Cindi Oates, her siblings Denver Stark, Erma Jean Atkinson, and Hank Stark, and most recently her grandson Bryce Oates.
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