Carroll Wilbur Coates, Jr. was born on December 29, 1941, in Washington, DC to Carroll and Janie Bowles Coates.  Wilbur, as he was called, grew up in Fairfax County and attended 11 Oaks Elementary School and later attended Luther Jackson High School.  He was the oldest of 9 children. Wilbur loved the Lord throughout his entire life and accepted Christ at an early age.

The extended Coates family has a long history in Chantilly, Va., and as one of the first black farm owners in Fairfax County, Wilbur's uncle Leslie R. Coates owned a 129-acre dairy farm that was later purchased and is presently Washington Dulles International Airport.  As a kid, Wilbur loved working on that dairy farm and would spend all the years of his life recounting happy and funny stories of him, his brothers and cousins working the farm.

As much as Wilbur loved working on the farm, he loved one thing as much, if not more… baseball.  Wilbur was an extremely talented baseball player, and in his early to mid-twenties, he played the positions of pitcher and shortstop.  In 1968, Wilbur and his brother Ralph broke the racial barrier in Loudoun County when they signed on to play for the Round Hill Braves.  The Loudoun County Baseball League might never have integrated before it folded in 1975 were it not for Lee Lockhart signing the Coates brothers.

On March 2, 1965, Wilbur married the beautiful Shirley Ann Turner and together they raised 5 children, daughters Diedra and Freda, and sons Anthony, Rodney, and Todd.  Wilbur and Shirley divorced amicably on August 25, 1978.  Wilbur also had 5 other children, twin sons, Tyrone and Jerome, and daughters, Rhonda, Kayla, and Stacie.  Wilbur was a family man and a loving father and was very protective of all his children.

Wilbur's early days working on his family's dairy farm infused a great love of the outdoors in him.  He was introduced to landscaping work in the early 1970's, when he went to work for a man named J.J. Dennis, who taught him the horticulture trade.  Wilbur took to landscaping immediately and soaked up as much knowledge of plants, trees, shrubs, flowers, and hardscapes as he could.  Before long, he had earned the title of "Master Landscaper," and he proceeded to teach his sons everything he knew about the trade.  He continued in his landscaping work for the remainder of his life and in 2011 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where his son Anthony started a landscaping business, and there they worked side by side for the next 10 years.

In 2022, Wilbur reconnected with a former classmate from Luther Jackson High School, the lovely Hazel Ernestine Baker, affectionately known as "Ernie." Wilbur and Ernie hadn't seen each other in 65 years and when they saw each other again they fell deeply in love and began a beautiful relationship.  It wasn't long before he was traveling back and forth to Maryland to spend time with her and they began planning their future, having decided to spend the rest of their lives together.  Wilbur moved back to Virginia at the beginning of 2023 and he and Ernie went everywhere and did everything together.  They were inseparable until the end.

Tragically, Wilbur succumbed to Cancer on Thursday, July 20, 2023, a battle he began only 2 months earlier.  He was preceded in death by his father, Carroll Wilbur Coates, Sr., his mother Janie Coates-Coleman, his stepmother Billie Coates, his brothers Anthony Bruce Coates and Ralph Coates, his sister Georgia Coates-Keyes, his daughter Diedra Lynn Turner, his son Jerome Wiley, and his grandsons Filippe Settles and Rodney Davis.

Wilbur leaves to cherish his memory, his former wife Shirley Ann Coates; his loving companion Hazel Ernestine Baker; his sons Carroll Anthony Coates (wife Loretta), Rodney Sebastian Coates (wife Diane), Todd Aldwrin Coates and Tyrone Wiley; his daughters Rhonda Johnson (husband Melvin), Freda Ann Hall (husband Ronald), Stacie Elaine Murray and Kayla Yasmeen Grayson; his brothers George Coates, Irvin Coates, Clark Coates, and Freddie Coates; his sister Sharon Coates; 35 grandchildren, 62 great grandchildren, 1great-great grandchild and a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and friends.