Cristy Cates

May 10, 1971 - December 16, 2017

Dr. Cristy Kay Cates passed away on December 16, 2017 at Gracy Woods Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Austin, Texas. She was born in Tyler, Texas on May 10, 1971 to the late Thomas (Tom) Daniel Cates and Mary Kathryn (Katy) Hicks Cates. She is the great granddaughter of Thomas Robinson and the granddaughter of Euthel Hicks and Dolly Robinson Hicks and Albert Andrew Cates and Dessa LaDelle Frost Cates. Cristy moved to Edinburg, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley with her family while still a baby. She attended Grace Christian School in Pharr, Texas, Good Shepherd Christian School in McAllen, Texas and graduated from Hyde Park Baptist School in Austin, Texas in 1989. With the help of her sister, Rhonda, Cristy obtained an intern position with State Representative Juan J. Hinojosa in 1987, shortly after her 16th birthday. Once the internship ended, Rep. Hinojosa hired Cristy as an Assistant Committee Clerk for the Local & Consent Calendar Committee which he chaired. When Rep. Hinojosa retired, she took a job as Chief Clerk of the Rules and Resolutions Calendar during the 72nd Legislative Session which opened in January 1991. Cristy was 19 when the Session began and on her 20th birthday, she was honored as the Youngest Committee Clerk in the History of the State of Texas. The Legislative Resolution, honoring this achievement, was read in full on the House Floor of the Texas State Capitol on May 10, 1991. After the 72nd Legislative Session, Cristy became the Assistant to the Chief of Staff for Mayor Bob Lanier in Houston, Texas. Cristy went back to work at the Texas State Capitol where she was the Committee Clerk for the Economic Development Committee during the 74th Legislative Session in 1995. Cristy became a Political Consultant, Analyst and Researcher starting in 1997 during the 75th Texas Legislative Session. She became affectionately known as the “Point of Order Queen” due to her vast knowledge of the House Committee Rules. She continued to do this work for several years until her failing health prevented her from working directly at the Capitol, though she continued to do some work from home as her health permitted. Cristy’s health continued to worsen but despite this, she managed to take college courses online, receiving her Doctorate of Science in Political Science in 2013 from Canterbury University. Cristy’s health deteriorated as the years went by. She was in constant pain and was practically bedridden for the last several years of her life. Although her family and friends will greatly miss Cristy, she is now at peace and no longer suffering. She is preceded in death by her father, Thomas (Tom) Daniel Cates. Survivors include her mother, Katy Cates, Austin, Texas; her sister, Rhonda Cates-Ivaschenko and her nephew, Andrei Cristopher Ivaschenko, Graveside service will be Thursday, December 21, 2017 at 2 pm at the Three Rivers Cemetery.