Claude Frank Yates was born May 23, 1949 in Memphis Tennessee to Catherine Howell Yates and Dr. C. Frank Yates . He died December 30 , 2019. He grew up in Memphis and attended Snowden Elementary School and Grace St Luke's Episcopal School . He graduated fromMemphis University School in 1967.

Claude served in the United States Navy from 1969 to 1973 providing him travel opportunities in the Phillipines and Scotland. After his honorable discharge, he attended Jackson State Community College in Jackson, Tennessee and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville majoring in marketing. His love of the Great Smoky Mountains kept him in East Tennessee where he worked on many graphic design projects for several publications in Gatlinburg, Pidgeon Forge and Sevierville. The lure of the sea called him to Hilton Head, South Carolina where he continued his career in graphic design and marketing. Upon the death of his father in 1994, Claude returned to Memphis to care for his mother. He was a lovingand dedicated caregiver for her until her death in 2000. He will forever be remembered for selflessly putting his life on hold to take care of his mother and allowing her to live out her days in dignity in the house that she loved. She never thought for a minute that he was taking care of her.

Claude or Frank as he was known by his family was preceded in death by his parents and sister Catherine Howell Yates Rohrbaugh. He is survived by his sister Lynn Yates Dunlap and her husband Hugh Dunlap of Memphis: his sister, Claudia Yates Freiman and her husband, Lennie Freiman of Fischer, Texas, and his brother in law Charles Rohrbaugh of Normal, Illinois. He also leaves behind a niece from Austin, Anna Freiman Weber,her husband, Ryan and their two children, Emma and Rowen; a nephew from Oxford, Mississippi, Andrew Montgomery Freiman, his wife Amie and their daughters,Maggie and Jane; a nephew from Hutto, Texas, Thad Harrison Freiman and wife April and their three children, Hazel, Oliver and June: and a nephew, Peyton Yates Freiman of Fischer, Texas.