Dr. Frank Lester Bates was born in 1909 in Colorado. He moved to Saskatchewan two years later and completed his elementary and high school education in Luseland, Saskatchewan. He attended Normal School in 1927-1928 in Calgary, Alberta, and completed a B.A. and B.Ed. at the University of Saskatchewan. He acquired a Doctor of Education degree at the University of California in Berkeley in 1947 with special emphasis on Elementary Education and Educational Psychology. His career in education in Saskatchewan included teaching at the Saskatchewan Teachers' College in Moose Jaw and Regina (1958-1963). He was Principal of the Saskatchewan Teachers' College, Regina from 1963 to 1964, then became Dean of the newly formed Faculty of Education at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus (1964-1967). He continued to teach in the Faculty of Education until 1977. He is currently retired and resides in Regina.