Mindy Gates

Mindy Marie (Martinez) Gates was born on March 12, 1980 to Janet and Tony Martinez in Mount Vernon, Washington. She went home to be with her Lord unexpectedly on Thursday, March 18, 2021 in Grants Pass, Oregon.

Mindy will be missed by her sisters, Michelle (Mike) Martino, Melissa (Aaron) Milligan, Heather (Brandon) Campbell, and Rachel Martinez. Her brothers Michael Freeman and Matthew (Holly) Freeman will miss her as well.

Mindy was raised by her mother and stepfather, Janet and Jerry Freeman of Burlington, NC. Her mother passed away just a year ago. Though she is very loved and fondly remembered by her father and stepmother, Tony and Christine Martinez of Tillamook.

She loved all of her children. She is also loved and will be missed by many nieces and nephews.

She was a beautiful soul, a talented artist, a mother, a sister, a friend, and a child of God. Her life was worthy, she has inherent value by the Creator who thought so much of her that He breathed life into her soul. She is more than the grip of addiction wants you to see her as and better than the stereotype she has been lumped into...she was a fighter, Lord knows she could scrap with the best of them...she could draw, paint, and create works of art with ease...she loved deeply and and hurt deeper than anyone could ever imagine. Not that she was ever perfect or that she didn’t make mistakes...she hurt some of the closest people to her and failed the ones she should have protected the most fiercely in this life...wasted days, wasted years, buckets and buckets of wasted tears, neglect, unhealthy, uncaring, deserving of what she gets/got, a failure, selfish, a lost cause, a junky, a meth head, a pity...all thoughts and comments that have been said and assigned to her, but please don’t let that be her story...see past all that and see the smile she shares with her children, see the heart that longed to be loved and to love, see the brokenness she did not ask for as a child that changed her at her core, see the inherited struggle of addiction, see the beauty she once was with raven hair and fair flawless skin, see her strength and wild spirit that dared to find her place in this world—just never quite fitting in, see a soul who lost it’s way down here on earth but returned home, to a new body and into the loving arms of her mother, but better than that into those of her Savior. Let these days we had with her remind us of all the good that she was...let the hard times, hurts, and undesirable moments remind us that by the grace of God that could easily be us...let us realize that we are all just one decision, one experience, or one tragedy away from being a different person than the one we are today. If you find that looking at yourself you are not who you’d like to be decide today to change that...start now, because one day you might find yourself 41 years and 6 days down the road.

Don’t hold grudges, forgive, start over, love without regret, get help, go home, say “I love you” and “I’m sorry”, there is only one of you and you can never be replaced—you are here for a reason, you are loved, you matter...

Until we meet again...we love you, Mindy Marie.