Mary Gates: A Federal Way pioneer

Published 1:30 am Friday, February 27, 2026

Mary Gates said people usually say, “someone oughta do this,” but when she thinks that, she takes the initiative and tries to get it done herself.

Gates was born Nov. 28, 1943, in La Salle, Illinois. She moved a lot as a kid because her father worked in quality control and took new jobs in different cities. Growing up, she lived in Sheboygan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as Elgin, Illinois, but she eventually made her way back to La Salle, Illinois, with her working father and a homemaker mother.

Gates said she always enjoyed writing and was a good student, but she specifically started getting into speech and communications in high school, joining the debate club. She said in high school she also met her husband, Bill Gates, a former South King Fire commissioner and an involved Federal Way resident.

After high school, she went to Northern Illinois University, where she majored in rhetoric and public address. While earning her bachelor’s degree, she was involved in the debate club. A professor there motivated her to continue pursuing debate, alerting her to a position on the debate team at Ohio State University.

Gates then enrolled at Ohio State University and became the first female assistant debate coach. Gates said that after earning her master’s degree, she worked as a debate coach at Indiana State University until she moved to the Chicago area, where her husband was earning his master’s degree.

She moved to Washington in 1969, when her husband got a job at Weyerhaeuser in Cosmopolis, Washington. She then took a job at the Hoquiam School District as the English department head and as an English teacher.

In 1974, her husband got a new position at Weyerhaeuser, and they moved to Federal Way. She said from the jump, they were worried that Federal Way was not incorporated because she knew from her experience that unincorporated areas don’t get the same level of care as cities do.

When they got to Federal Way, they started getting involved in the community, helping to get a hospital started and working to get the city incorporated. She also began teaching part-time at Green River College, Highline College and Tacoma Community College, as well as at the University of Puget Sound. She said when they got to Federal Way, her family also grew, adding two kids.

Before she got involved in incorporating Federal Way, she and her husband helped create West Hylebos Wetlands Park. She said the initiative was sparked when she was driving home from work and saw a logging truck damaging the ecosystem. Eventually, after a few years, she and others created the West Hylebos Wetlands Park, which became a state park and later a city park when Federal Way was incorporated.

After that, she and her husband were part of two efforts to incorporate Federal Way, and on the second attempt, the area’s residents voted to incorporate. The city was incorporated on Feb. 28, 1990, and every year she brings treats to City Hall to celebrate.

Gates ran for the first Federal Way City Council and was elected. She was on the council for 14 years. As part of the first council, they worked on many endeavors a city needs when it first starts, such as hiring staff, zoning, establishing procedures and creating a police department. Then, in 1994, she served as mayor for a two-year term.

Gates said some notable things she worked on as mayor included making Weyerhaeuser and World Vision’s property part of Federal Way, organizing the first gun buyback program, and helping establish the police department. Some other community endeavors she got involved in outside the council included being appointed to the Sound Transit Board, where she helped shape early regional transit planning, serving on the Harborview Visiting Committee and serving on the Centerstage Theatre board. She also served as executive director of the Federal Way Symphony and she was secretary of the Pacific Bonsai Museum, along with many other endeavors.

Another notable initiative she was part of in the early 1990s was serving on the advisory committee that established the University of Washington Tacoma campus.

She was involved in the now-disbanded Federal Way Women’s Network. Gates said that, even into the late 1980s, service clubs such as Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions were men’s clubs that did not allow women.

“I had a dentist from Auburn. I’ll never forget him. I joined Rotary in 1990, and he stopped me. He was visiting from Auburn, and he said, ‘You know, Mary, he said, I am against women in Rotary,’ he was a pretty older guy,” Gates said. “But he said, ‘You’re an exception. Well, you really do serve the community,’ I said, ‘there are a lot of other women who serve the community too.’”

Gates said she and the group met and advocated allowing women into service clubs, and eventually, women were allowed in. She said now, the Rotary Club of Federal Way is one of the volunteer endeavors she remains involved with.

“I just think it’s important that we continue keeping this community moving forward. Moving forward. Always adding. Adding good things to the community, welcoming people, respecting the people here,” Gates said. “I think respect is crucial to getting anything done. And that means respecting various opinions, too, which is not easy to do, but that’s how good decisions are made.”

Some of Gates’ favorite parts of Federal Way include the Bonsai museum, the Performing Arts and Event Center and participating in service organizations. She said her favorite restaurants are Peking Wok, Azteca, and Poverty Bay Cafe, but she’s also a good cook, so she likes to try different places, then try to imitate the recipes.