By Nick Sestanovich
Mayrene Bates — a longtime Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District (FSUSD) educator, trustee with the Solano Board of Education and active community supporter — died Jan. 6. She was 88.
“It’s a community loss,” longtime friend and retired Solano Sheriff’s Deputy Daryl Snedeker said.
Bates was born April 15, 1934 in the small town of Liberty, Tenn. At the time, the South was in the midst of segregation, and Bates had to take a bus to attend a high school that was twice as far away as the school that was designated for white students.