Bios

Constance Elizabeth Gates Markle, born 1912, Ohio

Constance "Connie" Gates was born on Feb 19, 1912 in Cleveland, Ohio. She was the oldest of five children, daughter of Augustus Joseph "A.J." Gates and Frances Lenore Myers. Connie had a strict Catholic upbringing. She attended Catholic girls school and had planned to be a nun when she grew up. Instead she became a radio singer in New York City in the 30's and then gave it up to get married and have three children. She later became an artist, a lay priest and a Buddhist. During her artistic career, she created hundreds of paintings, sculptures, stained glass windows, illuminated writings and multi-media art.

She was a client of Ira Progoff's during the the years he was developing his intensive journal method and she used his guidance to encourage her artistic qualities to blossom. Connie's younger sister, Patricia Gates, became Ira's executive secretary.

Connie had two brothers and two sisters. One brother and one sister are still living in the Cleveland area. Connie's father worked as an engineer in his early years and then formed the "A.J. Gates Company" which sold trucks and fork-lifts.

The two articles below tell more about her life. The first article, "The Evolution of a Radio Trouper," appeared in 1935 in The Long Island Press, Jamaica, NY and was one of many similar publicity articles syndicated to newspapers every few months across the US. Click on the article below to view a version you can enlarge to read.

The second article below is an obituary that appeared in the Point Reyes Light, Point Reyes, CA, in 1999.