Created by Philomene A. Gates

Born March 19, 1918, Philomene Asher Gates grew up in Orlando (FL). Since her family could no longer afford the tuition to the Cathedral School for girls, a private Episcopal boarding/day school, she enrolled at the age of 12-1/2 in the Orlando Senior Public High School. From 1934 to 1938, when she received her B.S. degree, she attended Florida State College for Women (FSCW, now Florida State University).

In a chapter of her autobiography A Soft Rebel Yell: From Grits to Gotham (Gridiron, 2001), Gates described her four years at FSCW, where she studied accounting and participated in student organizations, such as the Cotillion Club, and sororities, such as the Pi Beta Phi sorority. She noted that on weekends, she visited Gainesville (FL) with college friends, and recalled three inspirational professors from FSCW: Sadie Young, who taught money, banking, and economics; William Rogers, who taught romantic poetry; and College of Arts and Sciences Dean William Dodd, who taught Chaucer and Shakespeare.

Although she was accepted to Yale Law School, she chose instead to participate in a tour of 11 European nations, including the Soviet Union, to study their economic, social, and political institutions. This trip occurred in the summer of 1938 when Hitler overran most of Europe, had annexed Austria, and was laying the foundation for the Rome-Berlin axis. In her autobiography, she acknowledged that this trip changed her life forever.

In the fall of 1938, Gates, then 20 years old, entered the George Washington University School of Law as one of three women in her class, and in 1942, received her LL.B. degree from that institution. She took night classes for four years and supported herself by taking a daytime government job as the editor of the Federal Register in the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, she worked several months as a columnist for the Orlando (FL) Morning Sentinel.

In 1940, she met her future husband, Samuel E. Gates, a pioneer in the field of aviation law and employed as a trial lawyer for the Civil Aeronautics Board. During World War II, he served as one of the chief officers in the Air Transport Command and after the war resumed his legal career. They were married in 1941.

During the war, she lived in Washington, D.C. and held various positions. She was an Attorney for the Office of General Counsel, Office of Price Administration in 1943, and served as a confidential legal assistant on the Civil Aeronautics Board from 1943-1945.

From 1948 to 1959, after she and her husband moved to New York City, Gates devoted most of her time to her family, which now included three children. She concentrated her energy on her role as wife, homemaker, and mother.

In 1962, Gates established a private law practice in New York City, specializing in civil and international litigation. She joined the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in 1971, and served as a member of its 24-person delegation to China in 1979.

After the death of her husband of almost 40 years in 1979, she wrote a book, Suddenly Alone, to help other women make it through the emotional, legal, and practical hard times of losing a partner by death or divorce.

Gates continued practicing law in New York, and led a rich social life. She became a civic leader, serving on dozens of boards and raising money for those causes in which she believed. In addition, she became an active Florida State University (FSU) supporter through her participation in its capital fund-raising campaigns, and in 2002 raised more than $100,000 for a center at FSU for speaking and writing the English language.

From the guide to the Philomene Gates Papers, 1989-2001, 1999-2000, (Repository Unknown)