Theresa K. Bates passed away on August 27, 2023. She was well loved, a friend to all and will be greatly missed. Theresa was born in Newark, NJ on February 7, 1928. She was raised in Bloomfield, NJ, graduated from Bloomfield High School in 1945 and the Berkeley Secretarial School in 1946. She worked for Western Electric and then the Federal Bureau of Investigation until she was married in 1951. Theresa married Gilbert Bates on October 2, 1951. Gilbert Bates was a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and in the first four years of their marriage they lived in Savannah, GA; Columbia, SC; Panama City, FL; Landover, MD; and in 1955 they moved to Metuchen, NJ. Theresa Bates was an active member of the Newark Chapter of the Society of the FBI Alumni since 1973; was a member of several bridge clubs for over fifty years, and when she was raising her five children she was an active member of the PTA at School No. 19 in Menlo Park Terrace and served as their President in 1967; and was active with the Menlo Park Terrace Little League Auxiliary. Theresa’s husband Gilbert Bates died on November 24, 1985. She is survived by her children James (Laurie) Bates, Barbara (Dennis) Hultay, Robert Bates, Eileen Fox (Albert K. Fox deceased), and Richard (Linda) Bates, and her brother Joseph (Mary, deceased) Kearney and Christine (Joseph) Hobmeier. Her sister Mary Stark and her brother Jack Kearney predeceased her. Theresa has twelve grandchildren (Allison, Meredith, Albert, Ryan, Jack, Katie, Nicole, Matthew, Ryan, Sarah, Jacob, Mariel) and three great grandchildren (Sophia, Albert, Kolby). The Funeral will take place on Friday, September 1, 2023, at 9:45 am at Costello-Runyon Funeral Home, 568 Middlesex Ave. (Rt. 27), Metuchen, followed by a 10:15 am Funeral Mass at St. Francis Cathedral, 32 Elm Ave. , Metuchen. The interment will follow in Bloomfield Cemetery, 383 Bellville Ave. , Bloomfield. The viewing will be Thursday, August 31, 2023, from 2-4pm and 7-9pm in the funeral home.