Leonard Wayne Yates is remembered as a hard-working man who always kept busy, who loved his ranch and San Benito County.
"He loved his ranch and he loved the area - that's what I will always remember," said Lorene Yates, his wife. "He was very direct. You knew what he thought if you ask him. He was usually busy, a hard-working guy."
Leonard Yates died Thursday in a tractor accident at his ranch on the 2600 block of Orchard Road. He was run over when it slipped out of gear while he was checking something, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.
Lorene Yates said that their family moved to San Benito County because they didn't want to live in San Jose.
"We worked at IBM and wanted to have more space," she said. "He loved (the ranch) when he saw it."
Prior to becoming a full-time rancher, Leonard Yates worked at IBM as a customer engineer, later becoming a computer programmer and finished his career there in management as a division vice president.
"He like it for the most part," his wife said. "Over the last couple of years, IBM was changing quite a bit and he didn't like it as much." Leonard Yates retired from the company after working there for 30 years.
People at IBM said he was the best manager they ever had, said Karl Yates, his son, who noted he will most remember his father's work ethic.
"He was hard working. Even with his heart condition, he was out there every morning," he said. "He instilled in us the best work ethic."
After retiring, along with buying his 600-acre ranch outside of Hollister, Leonard Yates also bought a ranch in Doris and raised hay and cattle. Lorene Yates said that "he always had to have a project" and had the ranch in Doris for five or six years.
Yates also was known to mess up familiar sayings, his son noted.
"We'd make fun of him for messing up sayings," he said. "You know the phrase 'water under the bridge?' He'd say 'water over the bridge instead.'"
The son added that "he was down to earth, funny and had a good sense of humor."
Lorene Yates said her husband was a good storyteller, was usually smiling and almost always was in a good mood.
Some of the projects that kept him busy included, at one point in time, buying and restoring cars from the 1950s. "He had several cars from that era," Lorene Yates said.
He also bought and assembled an experimental plane with the help from someone in Fresno.
His son said he shared some common interests with his father.
"Cars and how things work," he said. "He pretty much taught me how to fix anything. And the ranch."
He said his father had many different interests, was always moving and always knew what he wanted. He said he loved his kids.
"He said he wouldn't care if we all still lived at home," said the son, who lives in Gilroy.
Leonard Yates leaves behind two sons in the area, Karl in Gilroy and Zachariah in Hollister, and a daughter, Edith Cordelia of Singapore. He is also survived by his sister, Kasey Allen of Hot Springs, Ariz., and many in-laws, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Grunnagle Ament Nelson Funeral Home, 870 San Benito St., in Hollister.
Colin McConville Colin McConville is a reporter with the Hollister Free Lance. You can reach him by email or at (831) 637-5566.
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