Milton Barlow commissioned Gates to write the ballet "Desert As A Rose" for Utah's statehood centennial in 1996. Claudia Bushman, Gates's sister-in-law, encouraged him to write an opera on Joseph Smith. Gates wrote "Joseph! Joseph!", which was performed in 2004 and 2005. In 1955, Gates won the Max Wald Memorial Fund's first composition competition for his Symphony No.1, written for his doctoral dissertation. Gates's works have won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) every year from 1967 to 1989. In 1997, Gates received a Governor's Commendation from Tommy Thompson for his musical service in southern Wisconsin. In 1998, he received a Rotary Club Service Above Self award. In 2010, the instrumental qualities of Gates's choral arrangements were the subject of a doctoral dissertation by Matthew Thompson at Kansas University. Crawford Gates married Georgia Lauper on December 19, 1952. They had four children. Crawford and Georgia moved to Salt Lake City in 1999. Gates died June 9, 2018 at the age of 96.