A dream come true

Aug. 03--JOHNSON COUNTY -- June Bates, a woman with many connections, is well known in Cleburne for her business efforts and volunteerism. Now a new business effort could set her on the map more than ever before.

Born and raised in Fort Worth, Bates liked to try different things and, as she said, she's had a charmed life.

After her daughter's death and raising her grandchildren, Bates discovered a love of travel and Disney, which has led to the creation of her own record label, Royal Mouse Entertainment.

Changing paces

At 6 years old, Bates performed on Channel 5 on an all-local talent show and sang "Mr. Sandman" by The Chordettes. When she was older, she had a taste of the modeling life, posing for a few ads. At one point she even played bass for a rock 'n' roll band.

Although she attended two years at Tarrant County College, Bates never graduated. But being a fast learner helped her gain a job as bookkeeper, which she held for many years.

She married Brad and had a daughter, Sheli. The family moved to Cleburne in 1995 after Brad's father died unexpectedly. The family had to take care of his business, Bates Containers.

At the time Brad had a successful insurance company and June had been working as a system analyst for Tandi Information Systems.

"We had to leave all of that behind and take care of the container company, the farm and a lot of rental properties in Cleburne," Bates said.

Their daughter married and had two children, Blake and Bradley Jones. She also ran her own business called Nolan Ridge Property Management, serving as property manager for her parents and others.

"With a farm we had to take care of the cattle, the investments, rental properties, finalizing out the business at Bates Container and that took us at least a year," Bates said. "We fine tuned it and everything was going pretty well."

Then, tragedy struck. In January 1998, Sheli was diagnosed with breast cancer; she died a year later.

"It was horrible as you might expect and still is," Bates said. "That's what a lot of people don't get and I think it's interesting too. Well wishers can say some of the dumbest things like, 'I can't believe you only had one.' What difference would it make? You would mourn for a child whether you had one or 21. But I know they meant well."

Bates said her life changed dramatically. The boys' step-father had begun the adoption process but before Sheli died, Bates said her wish was to have the boys raised by her and Brad. Their biological father was incarcerated.

"She knew that we would be able to take care of them, that we had a blood-interest and that's how it had to be," Bates said.

She said she and Brad tried to make the boys' lives as easy as possible. They decided to move into the house the boys were living in so they didn't have to be taken out of their schools.

"They already had so much happen and we wanted to make it as easy as possible," she said. "When you lose your mom it's not going to be easy but we weren't going to do anything to make it worse."

In that first year after Sheli's death, Bates said she doesn't remember much.

"And that's the God honest truth and I think that's a blessing because it's so hard plus two months after Sheli died I made a promise to her to go get a mammogram," she said.

After her mammogram, Bates said doctors told her she has an atypical hyperplasia, a precancerous condition that affects the cells in the breast.

"So I was battling my own battle and I don't remember much of that either," she said. "It's just God's will that you get up, breathe, take the kids to school and do what you have to do."

She and Brad decided not tell the boys about her condition and after a year of taking medication and removal of the abnormal cells, Bates was cleared.

In October 2000, after Bates was cleared, the family took a trip to Disney World. It was the first time the boys and Bates had been to the magical kingdom.

"Before that we had taken the boys on trips to go skiing in Colorado but this trip was different," she said. "It was the first trip we had been on that was so completely comfortable. We laughed, we were relaxed and it was the first time I remember doing that since Sheli died. They don't call it the happiest place on earth for nothing."

After they returned, Bates' focus became Blake and Bradley. She said they needed to have her and Brad's best attention.

So she did it all over again just like she had with Sheli. She became an active school parent volunteer, chaperoned field trips and was president of the band booster club.

A magical place

The family liked to travel a lot, but Bates said she knew there were places out there that she couldn't get to as a consumer; the only way to reach those places was to become a travel agent.

"Well I've never been the one to let obstacles get in my way, I either mow them down or figure out a way to go around them," she said.

So, she became a travel agent in September 2003 and thus was born Bates etc. Travel.

She has agents from Dallas to Waterford, Conn. Because she doesn't have a big financial need, Bates said she can still offer the best deal for the best price. Her agents receive 90 percent of their commission and she keeps 10 percent.

Through her agency, she and her family have been able to travel around the globe.

"It's impossible to say what has been my favorite place because each place we've gone I loved it for something different," she said.

Bates etc. Travel also partners with Disney in that they are an authorized vacation planner for Disney resorts.

But Bates has embarked in another business venture with Disney, of the musical kind.

She met her business partner, Mark Edwards, in 1997 and he was the one that suggested her family go to Disney World for their first trip. He even went with her family.

He is also one of the partners at the travel agency and he was the one who had connections at Disney so that's how the travel agency became involved with Disney. While working with him, Bates found out just how deep his ties with Disney went.

Edwards had a strong relationship with Derric Johnson, a composer, writer and music director who served as a creative consultant for Walt Disney World. Johnson was the one who put together the Voices of Liberty, an a capella group that sings Americana music under the acoustically sound dome at Epcot, one of the four theme parks by Disney.

He was diagnosed with a debilitating illness and he had a book of music and entrusted Edwards to make an album based on that music.

Edwards then came to Bates to be part of the opportunity and fund the project. Thus, the record label Royal Mouse Entertainment was born.

"The last time a CD was made like this was in 2001, that was outdated and didn't have the caliber of the singers there are today," Bates said. "Once word got out that Mark was doing this he began getting calls from Disney singers to be a part of the project."

All of the Disney singers involved are Broadway performers and some have done the singing for Disney films.

"I trusted Mark and his ability to do this and arrange it," Bates said. "He knew a lot more about music than I do. His was the creative side of it and I was the business side of it. And to see all these people involved you could tell this was going to be great."

Bates and Edwards didn't partner with Disney; it was an independent project. When the project seemed to actually be happening, Bates said, before they even started to record they had to get all the licensing agreements and figure out how much everything was going to cost.

Then, Bates and Edwards got a call from Disney Merchandising and they said they had heard about the project and everyone was eager about it. Disney offered to meet their budget and offered Imagineering House, Disney's in-house studio and digital mastering studio, for the making of the CD, "The Magic of Voices."

"We were to stay in Orlando and get the CD ready there, it was a very big deal," Bates. "They told us to get everything together we will meet and sell this CD in the kiosks and store at Epcot."

Bates and Edwards got everything together before July so that Disney would be able to roll out the new disc by July 4.

They met with Disney in June, but they put the brakes on the CD. It turns out Disney didn't get all their paperwork ready and didn't expect Bates and Edwards to be finished by July 4.

Because Bates and Edwards were able to meet deadline before Disney, Disney offered to rollout the CD twice, either once on Labor Day or President's Day and then another on July 4, 2015. The rollout will be at Disney's expense and they will also hold cast parties and shows promoting the CD.

"This is all at their expense because the little company they didn't think could, did," she said.

The CD isn't on shelves yet, but the singers and Disney are already in talks for Bates and Edwards to make another CD. Some of the music on the CD, which include Disney classics like "Once Upon a Dream" and "A Whole New World," have already made top of the charts on iTunes.

When Bates sets her mind on something, she gets it done, she said.

"If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it right," she said. "And I love everything that I do. You need to like what you're doing and if you love what you do it's not work."

Edwards said he wouldn't have done the project anybody else; he trusted Bates' expertise.

<p>"June provides a tremendous amount of financial expertise and business knowledge and is a driven 'detail person' that knows how to get things done," he said. "I also have a financial degree but hate the minutia of spreadsheets and budgets. I wouldn't want to do it without June as my partner and the closeness of our relationships and our individual gifts have always complimented each other."

Volunteering

Although Bates seems always busy she always makes time for her community. She has served the Cleburne community in a variety of ways like serving as the chairwoman of the Cleburne Chamber of Commerce board and more recently becoming a Cleburne ISD board of trustee.

"She came on the board around 2006 and anything she does she puts in 100 percent," Chamber President Cathy Marchel said. "As a leader she is highly involved, good listener and is passionate. She gets people motivated."

Whenever the chamber needed assistance in any way, Bates was always there, Marchel said, and she doesn't do anything if she doesn't believe in it.

"She upholds values and morals and she expects that from her family," she said.

Bates oldest grandson, Blake Jones said the way he is today as a person and as a businessman is because of his grandparents.

"I remember when we were younger they would always give us diet soda and my brother and I didn't really like that. I went up to her one night and told why she couldn't get something else and she said, 'Well when are you going to get a job,'" she said. "And that put me into perspective and I went out and looked for a job and never stopped working."

Blake Jones his grandmother blows his mind with her activities.

"She's seen a lot of things to be wise enough and I think I adopted that quality to make my business a success," he said.

Jones, at 24 years old, is the youngest Farmer's insurance agent in Texas. He even help build an insurance policy for Bates and Edwards for their record label.

Bates is not done. As she and Edwards continue with their record label, she plans to do more for her travel agency. She has created Chick-Shake Travel geared to women and she also plans to market to the LGBT community and help find safe places to travel to.

"I wear a lot of different hats and I'm never bored," Bates said. "I take everything by stride and I love what I do."

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