Obituary of Jane P. Bates

Jane P. (Cloonan) Bates died Saturday, January 1, 2022 at home, surrounded by her loving family. She was 72.

Jane was born at Newton Wellesley Hospital on February 3, 1949, a daughter of the late Edward and Patricia (Sullivan) Cloonan and was a graduate of St. Mary’s High School in Waltham and Chamberlayne Junior College in Boston.

On December 8, 1973 she married grammar and high school classmate John J. ’Jack’ Bates, who loved her since the third grade. Jane and Jack raised their family in Framingham and Hopkinton, MA, and Newtown, CT. Jane’s desire to explore and create then led her and Jack to homes at Great Diamond Island and Cumberland, ME, and Saint Johns, FL, before returning to Massachusetts, settling in the Town of Kingston. It was a journey she shared with her children and grandchildren, leaving them with a lifetime of memories.

Jane was gentle and loving. Her goal in life was to make things beautiful, and she did. She created wonderful paintings, gardens, and flower arrangements that expressed how she saw and felt the world around her; in doing so, she left for us, to treasure always, the essence of her being. Her final work of art was to transform the historic Kingston Town House into a lovely private home for the people of Kingston to enjoy for years to come. Above all, are Jane’s three great works of beauty - John, Katie, and Terry. Jane’s sensitive spirit and soul lives on in them.

She leaves behind her devoted husband Jack; her children John E. Bates and his wife Heather, of Duxbury, MA, Katie E. Bates, of Waltham, MA, Terrence J. Bates, of Moultrie, GA; her twin brother John E. ‘Jack’ Cloonan and his wife Linda, of Millsboro, DE, Richard J. Cloonan and his wife Bibiana of Lakewood Ranch, FL, and Elizabeth M. ‘Betsy’ Henderson and her husband, Paul, of Scarborough, ME; her grandchildren Campbell and Declan Bates and Devin Harris; her nieces and nephew, Jacey, Olivia and Sara Cloonan, and Matthew, Meghan and Molly Henderson.

Jane was predeceased by her brother Edward T. Cloonan of Greenwich, CT, leaving behind his wife Linda and daughter Olivia.

Family and friends will honor and remember Jane's life by gathering for calling hours in the Shepherd Funeral Home, 216 Main Street, Kingston on Wednesday, January 12th from 4 to 8 p.m. and again on Thursday, January 13th at Saint Joseph's Church, 272 Main Street, Kingston where her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Burial will follow in Evergreen Cemetery, Kingston.

"I see her with her modest, sweet manner, and I hear her lovely calm voice, and I know that there is goodness, peace, and beauty, wherever she is; and that a soft light falls on her always, and on me when I am near her, and on everything around".

May her face be by me when I close my life, when reality is melting from me, and I find her near me, pointing upward.