Thomas A. “Tom” Coates, 59, of Great Falls, Mont., and formerly of Oberlin died Jan. 4 at his home.
He was born in Belvidere, Tenn.
Mr. Coates graduated from Oberlin High School [in 1960] at age 16 and also attended Oberlin College.
He was in the Air Force for 20 years and worked 17 years as a civilian in the Air Force.
He retired from Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana as a deputy chief of supply.
In 1986, he married Kathy Jean Big Shield in Ohio.
Mr. Coates enjoyed fishing, movies and cooking. He also enjoyed writing short stories.
Survivors include his wife; a daughter, Sanundra Coates of Atlanta; sons Michael Coates of Atlanta and Robert Coates of Maryland; a stepson, Harlen Evenson of North Carolina; six grandchildren; his father, Ben Coates of Cleveland; sisters Paula Delaine of Lorain and Lula Lewis of Columbus, Ga.; and brothers Howard Austin of Columbia, S.C., and James Austin of Louisville, Ky.
He was preceded in death by a son, Eugene Michael Coates, in 1994; his mother, Lula Bell Austin, in 1955; and maternal and paternal grandparents.
Funeral services were held Jan. 9 at the O’Connor Memorial Chapel, 2425 8th Ave., Great Falls.
Burial was at the Montana State Veterans Cemetery in Helena, Mont.
A memorial service will be held locally at a later date.
Memorials can be made to MSU Northern, in care of Richard Decelles, SPCC, Box 398, Poplar, MT 59255.
The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Sunday, February 11, 2001, p. B2.

15-Year-Old Boy Dies At Oberlin [Robert L. Coats]
Oberlin, April 2—Robert Coats, fifteen year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Coats of South Street passed away last night at his home after an illness of several weeks.
He was born in Oberlin, September 10, 1916, and had spent his whole life here. He was a freshman in Oberlin high school [class of 1935]. His passing is mourned by a host of classmates and friends.
Besides his parents, he is also survived by one sister, Mrs. Frances Coyne of Elyria.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock from the home, 44 South street, in charge of George Sedgeman. Burial will be made in the Pittsfield Cemetery.
The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Saturday, April 2, 1932, p. 2.
Relative Passes Away
Pittsfield—Robert Coates [sic], fifteen year old son of Mr. Lloyd and Mrs. Abbie McRoberts Coates, passed away at his home in Oberlin on Friday night after several weeks of serious illness in which he suffered terribly.
He has relatives in this vicinity. They are his grandmother, Mrs. Harriete [sic] McRoberts, an aunt, Mrs. Glynn Norton and an uncle, Arthur McRoberts, and their families.
Funeral services were conducted on Tuesday afternoon from the home, on South street, in Oberlin, with interment in the East cemetery in Pittsfield.
The many friends of this vicinity extend their heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family.
The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Thursday, April 7, 1932, p. 12.

Wilfred Cobb May Be Alive
Card Received Wednesday Announcing his Safe Arrival Overseas
Mistake Might Have Been Made in Government’s First Dispatch – Parents Renew Hopes
Hoping that the government had made a mistake in announcing the death of their son, Private Wilfred A. Cobb, Mr. and Mrs. F. D. Cobb of 189 North Pleasant street, had a joyous shock Wednesday when a card was received from Washington announcing the safe arrival of their son overseas. A mistake had been made somewhere and an investigation is now being made through the Red Cross to find out which report is true. While this is being done the boy’s parents and many friends here hope for his safe delivery.
Official word was received here Monday saying that Wilfred Cobb had been one of the victims of a German submarine which had sunk the transport Ticonderoga and had then shelled the boys who had gotten away in the life boats.
This news followed by that of his arrival in France leads his friends here to think that he might have escaped the disaster. A letter received by a close friend here a few days before he sailed said that he was one of five of the boys to be selected for special duties. It is thought that possibly these were transferred to some other boat although their names were listed on the Ticonderoga. His many friends here unite with his parents in hoping that he is still alive and that later news will relieve their present anxiety.
Mr. Cobb [graduated from OHS in 1912 and] had been a student in Oberlin Conservatory and was a very promising musician. [He may have composed the OHS Alma Mater about 1908.] He would have been graduated this year as he had been classed as a senior. He answered the summons of his country and enlisted in the heavy field artillery and was trained at Camp Jackson, Columbia, S. C. Besides his parents he has a brother, Charles Cobb, who resides in East Claridon.
Another victim of this disaster was Lieutenant Cleveland C. Frost, son of President Frost of Berea College, Ky. He was a brother of Wesley Frost, an Oberlin alumnus and recently American consul at Queenstown, where he had much to do in caring for the survivors of torpedoed vessels during the early ruthless warfare of Germany’s undersea pirates.
[Sadly, Wilfred Cobb was killed in the sinking of the Ticonderoga.]
The Oberlin Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Friday, October 15, 1918, p. 1.
Oberlin Loses Two of Her Boys
Lieutenant Quayle and Private Wilfred A. Cobb Are Killed
Officer Dies in Action in France
Cobb is One of Number of Ohio Victims Who Went Down With Torpedoed Vessel
News reached Oberlin this week of the death of two Oberlin young men overseas. First Lieutenant T. J. Quayle was killed in action in France. Wilfred A. Cobb was drowned in the sinking of the Ticonderoga off the Irish coast on September 30. The boat was sunk by a German submarine.
Lieutenant Quayle was a son of the late T. J. Quayle and had been for ten years a resident of Oberlin. The message from the government telling of his death was received by his mother Monday night. Soon after his command was called to the service last year Mr. Quayle was married to Miss Sarah Webster who is now quite ill in Chicago. In addition to his wife and his mother Lieutenant Quayle leaves a sister, Miss Dorothy, at the home here and a brother, Philip Quayle, in a southern training camp.
Lieutenant Quayle served on the Mexican border with the Elyria company of National Guard and when America entered the war and his company was called to the service he was transferred to the Norwalk company. Later he was transferred to the machine gun service and was with this branch of the armies in France when he was killed.
No young man in Oberlin was held in higher esteem than Tom Quayle. Clean in character, speech and manner, of gentle and courteous disposition, he enjoyed the friendship of those who knew and appreciated his merit. The sincere sympathy of the people of Oberlin will be extended to the young wife, his mother and brother and sister.
Mr. Cobb was a son of Mr. and Mrs. F. D. Cobb of North Pleasant street. He was a senior in Oberlin Conservatory when called to the service of his country. He early gave promise of talent as a musician and his manly character endeared him to his teachers and to his friends outside of school life. News dispatches state that 56 Ohio soldiers lost their lives with the Ticonderoga. Among the victims was Rollin Hinkson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hinkson of Elyria. Mr. Cobb was on his way to the fighting front when the boat was sunk. His death is a severe shock to his parents and to his many friends here. A brother, Charles Cobb, lives in Geauga county.
In the list of men lost on the Ticonderoga appears the name of Cleveland, son of President Frost of Berea college. President Frost was at one time professor of Greek at Oberlin college.
The Oberlin News, Oberlin, Ohio, Wednesday, October 26, 1918, p. 1.
Gift Honors Memory Of Wilfred A. Cobb
Prof. Barry Founds Conservatory Scholarship in His Name
Professor Charles K. Barry of the Conservatory has made a gift to Oberlin college to establish a scholarship fund of $1500 in memory of Wilfred Adgate Cobb, one of his former students. The income from this fund is to be used for a deserving, self-supporting student in the Conservatory of Music.
Mr. Cobb was a son of Mr. and Mrs. F. D. Cobb of North Pleasant street. He was a musician of unusual talent and was a senior in the Conservatory at the time he was called into service. He was on his way to France on the Ticonderoga when that ship was torpedoed and sunk last September by a German submarine. The news of his death came as a great shock not only to his associates in the college but also to his many friends in Oberlin.
The Oberlin News, Oberlin, Ohio, Wednesday, February 19, 1919, p. 1.

William Cobb
William Frank Cobb, 72, of Oberlin, died Sunday at Metro Health Medical Center. A lifelong resident of Oberlin, Mr. Cobb owned and operated Cobb Lumber Company and also worked as a general contractor.
Born Oct. 6, 1922, Mr. Cobb was a member of First United Methodist Church and was a very active member of the Masons. He served as treasurer and past master of Oberlin Lodge #380 F&AM, past high priest of Oberlin Chapter #219 RAM, past commander of Elyria Commandery #60 KT, past master of Elyria Council #86 R&SM, Knight York Cross of Honor KYCH, 32 Scottish Rite Valley of Cleveland and past president of Lorain County Scottish Rite Association and Lorain County Blue Lodge Association.
Mr. Cobb was a meritorious service award recipient.
He is survived by a friend, Jean Sherrard, of Oberlin.
Services will be held at the Cowling Funeral Home on Wednesday at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Judith Claycomb officiating. Visitation will be from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. today with a Masonic service at 7 p.m. Burial will be in Hillcrest Cemetery in Plainwell, Michigan.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, March 7, 1995, p. 2.

Rachel Coss Cochran
Mrs. William S. Cochran (Rachel Coss) died of heart failure at her home in San Diego, Calif., June 24[, 1968]. Born in Kenton, Ohio, Aug. 26, 1888, Mrs. Cochran moved to Oberlin with her mother about 1900 and attended the Oberlin schools [graduating from OHS in 1906]. After her graduation from Oberlin College [in 1910] she taught in Los Angeles for a year and then for two years taught at the Oberlin Academy. In 1913 she was married to Mr. Cochran, ’06. They made their home in Cleveland until Mr. Cochran’s retirement in 1949, when they moved to San Diego. Mr. Cochran died in 1964. Mrs. Cochran leaves a son, William C., of San Diego.
The Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Oberlin, Ohio, August 1968, p. 45.

Estella LaVerne “Stella” Coe
Miss Estella L. Coe, 79, died in a rest home in Claremont, Calif., July 5 [15?, 1966,]. She was born March 17, 1887, in Plymouth, Ohio, and made her early home in Oberlin [where she graduated from OHS in 1905]. After graduation [from Oberlin College in 1910] Miss Coe studied at the Western Reserve School for Social Work. Retired at an early age by rheumatoid arthritis, she served from 1911 to 1933 as a missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for foreign missions in Japan. She taught two years at Kobe College and established a neighborhood house, known as Coe House, in Tittori. Even after retirement her contact with Japan remained warm and during World War II she sent packages to Japanese children. She leaves several nieces and nephews, including Mrs. Kenneth Boetcher, Dr. Emmons S. Coe, ’17, and Dr. John E. Coe, ’53.
The Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Oberlin, Ohio, November 1966, p. 45.

Barbara Coffman
Barbara Jean Coffman, 88, of Central Lane in Andover, died Tuesday, July 27 in Concord, N.H.
Born in Oberlin, Ohio, [and a 1934 graduate of OHS,] Mrs. Coffman was an Andover resident since 1959. She spent her summers at Pleasant Lake in Deerfield, N.H.
Family members said she was a consummate outdoorswoman, enjoying boating, hiking and downhill skiing, as well as trekking in the Himalaya Mountains.
Mrs. Coffman was a member of Chapter AB, P.E.O., the Deerfield Community Church, the Appalachian Mountain Club and South Church in Andover.
Members of her family include her husband of 64 years, David R. Coffman; son, Thomas Coffman of Anchorage, Alaska; seven grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
She was pre-deceased by her daughter, Patricia Sorrie, who died in 2002.
There are no calling hours. After cremation, burial will be at the family's convenience.
A memorial service will be held today, Thursday, July 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the Deerfield Community Church, 11 Old Center Road, Deerfield. A reception will follow at Deerfield Town Hall.
A second memorial service will be held Saturday, July 31 at 11 a.m. at South Church, 41 Central St., Andover.
Arrangements are by Maiden-Petrin Funeral Home, Four Corners, Candia, N.H.
Andover Townsman, Andover, Mass., Thursday, July 29, 2004.

Mrs. George Cohron, Ex-Dean at Howard
Mrs. Helen Tuck Cohron of 5 Gloucester Place, New Rochelle, N. Y., Dean of Women at Howard University from 1919 to 1922, died yesterday in Mount Sinai Hospital after a long illness. Her age was 63. She was the wife of George E. Cohron, manager of an uptown office of the Social Security Administration here.
Mrs. Cohron, who was born in Oberlin, Ohio, graduated from [Oberlin High School in 1912 and from] Oberlin College and later obtained a master’s degree in education at Columbia University. While she was on the faculty of Howard University, she also taught at Miner Teachers College. Both schools are in Washington.
Mrs. Cohron had served on the boards of the National Urban League, the Community Service Society, the Travelers Aid Society, Lincoln Hospital, Utopia House and the Harlem branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association.
Surviving besides her husband are her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henson C. Tuck of Oberlin; a brother, Archibald Tuck of Oberlin, and a sister, Mrs. Dortha T. Parsons of New York.
The New York Times, New York, NY, Saturday, September 7, 1957, p. 19.

Kenneth Cole, 83, Scientist, Is Dead
Researcher Won U.S. Medal for Work on the Electrical Properties of Nerves
By Joan Cook
Kenneth S. Cole, winner of the National Medal of Science and a pioneer in the study of the electrical properties of nerves and other living cells, died Wednesday at the Wesley Palms Retirement Home in La Jolla, Calif. He was 83 years old.
Dr. Cole, known as the “father of biophysics,” was one of the first scientists to apply the concepts and techniques of physics to the study of the excitation and response of living cells. His studies of electrical resistance in nerve cells, especially those of squid, laid the foundation for the rapid advance of neurophysiology in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Dr. Cole was regarded as a seminal force in the early development of nerve research and achieved many of the technical advances that led to the Nobel Prize-winning “sodium theory” of nerve transmission formulated by two fellow scientists, Alan L. Hodgkin and Andrew F. Huxley, in 1947.
Medal Awarded in 1967
He was one of the first scientists to study the electro-physiology of nerve tissue and to record intracellular nerve impulses in a never cell, the axon of giant squid.
Dr. Cole was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1967. President Johnson, writing in the award citation, said of Dr. Cole’s work, “As a result, we know far more about how the nervous system functions.”
He was further honored by membership in the Royal Society of London in 1972, and the United States Biophysical Society annually awards the Kenneth S. Cole medal to an outstanding scientist studying cell membranes.
Since 1980, Dr. Cole had been adjunct professor of the Department of Neurosciences at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, which is affiliated with the University of California at San Diego Medical School.
Dr. Theodore H. Bullock, professor of neurosciences at the medical school, said yesterday that Dr. Cole was a “pioneer” in the measurement of the action potential of the nerve impulse. In collaboration with Dr. Hodgkin and Dr. Huxley, he said, Dr. Cole had experimented on giant squid to unlock the secrets of membranes.
“Dr. Cole contributed to their efforts and preceded them in many respects,” Dr. Bullock said. “He created a break-through technique, known as voltage clamping, that permitted evolution of the whole modern theory of how membranes work.”
Dr. Cole was a graduate [of Oberlin High School in 1917 and] of Oberlin College in 1922, and continued on at Cornell University, earning a Ph.D. in physics in 1926. While at Cornell, he spent summers working at the General Electric Laboratory in Schenectady, N.Y., where he met and learned from Irving Langmuir, who won the 1932 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
He joined the staff of Columbia University in 1937 and remained there until 1946. He had also been associated with the Presbyterian Hospital, the Guggenheim Foundation for Advanced Study at Princeton and the University of Chicago. From 1949 to 1954 he was technical director of the Naval Medicine Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., and in 1954 he became chief of the laboratory of biophysics of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness.
A widower, Dr. Cole is survived by a son, Roger Braley Cole of Bowie, Md., and a daughter, Sarah Roberts Cole of Palo Alto, Calif., and one grandson.
The New York Times, Friday, April 20, 1984, p. B6.

Nellie Alice Cole
Miss Nellie Alice Cole, a graduate of the Oberlin Kindergarten Training School in 1919, died on August 7, 1960, in Forest Grove, Oregon. She was 77 years old.
Born in Turkey, December 8, 1882, to The Reverend Dr. Royal M. and Lizzie Cole, missionaries for the American Board, Miss Cole received her elementary and high school training in the Oberlin Preparatory Department [and graduated from OHS in 1901]. After graduating from the Kindergarten Training School in 1909, Miss Cole studied at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, where she received her A.B. degree.
Before and after World War I, she served in the teacher-training program at the Trebizond Mission in Turkey and also worked with the Near East Relief. At one time she was an education missionary of the Congregational Woman’s Board of Missions in Trebizond.
In 1921 Miss Cole’s sister, Mrs. A. T. Blachly (Mary Cole, ’11), died, leaving a baby girl. At her death Miss Cole helped take over the care of her little niece as well as the care of her aged parents. In 1922 she and her sister, Alice Huldah, ’09, established a kindergarten in Forest Grove, where she taught for 12 years.
Survivors include her sister, Alice Huldah Cole of Forest Grove, a niece, and two grandnephews. A brother, Nelson F. Cole, B.D., ’10, preceded her in death.
The Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Oberlin, Ohio, March 1961, p. 31.

Motorcycle Crash Kills Robert Cole
Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock this (Thursday) afternoon for Corporal Robert Clayton Cole, 21, son of Mrs. Julia Cole, 29½ S. Main St., at Cowling-Sedgeman Funeral Home. Rev. Paul Giffin, pastor of the First Methodist Church, will be in charge.
Corporal Cole was killed Sunday night at Louisville, Ky., in a motorcycle accident. He was riding the vehicle when it apparently went out of control and crashed headon into a tree and he was thrown head first onto the street, according to the accident version received here. Upon arrival at the Louisville General hospital, he was pronounced dead from a fractured skull.
Born in Oberlin on July 4, 1929, Robert attended the Oberlin public schools until four years ago when he enlisted in the United States Army. He served for three years in Japan with the 11th Airborne group of the 87th Division. About a year ago, he re-enlisted upon return to this country and was stationed at Camp Campbell, Ky. However, for the past month he had been at the summer camp being held by the Army at Fort Knox, Ky. At the time of his death, he is believed to have been in Louisville on a week-end pass.
Earlier reports concerning an automobile collision with the motorcycle young Cole was riding proved incorrect, according to information received here.
Besides his mother, he is survived by his father, Howard Cole of Elyria; a sister, Mrs. Jean Gerber, and his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Anna Cole, both of Oberlin; and his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Knowles.
Interment will be made in Westwood Cemetery.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, July 20, 1950, p. 1.

Robert H. Cole, 76, Was Chemistry Professor, Author
Robert H[ugh] Cole, professor emeritus of chemistry at Brown University, died - Nov. 17 in Chaffee Nursing Home, East Providence. He was 76.
Mr. Cole joined the Brown faculty in 1947, served as chairman of the chemistry department from 1949 to 1961, and retired in 1985. He co-wrote, with J.S. Coles, "Underwater Explosions" and "Physical Principles of Chemistry."
A [1931 graduate of OHS and a] graduate of Oberlin College who received a doctorate at Harvard University, Mr. Cole was a research supervisor at the underwater explosives laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution during World War II.
A memorial service will be held Friday at 12:30 p.m. in Manning Chapel, Brown University.
The Boston Globe, Boston, Mass., Saturday, November 24, 1990, p. 39.

Robert W. Coleman
Roberta W. Coleman, 89, of Cleveland, former Oberlin resident, died Feb. 9 at the Worthington Nursing Home in Worthington, Ohio, after a long illness.
Born in Oberlin on June 9, 1905, she grew up here and graduated from Oberlin High School in 1923. She attended the Ohio State University and the University of Pennsylvania.
At the time of her retirement from public service in 1975, she was supervisor for nursing homes with the Cuyahoga County Welfare Department.
She was an early member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church.
Survivors include a son, Harold Coleman Jr. of Shaker Heights, daughter, Shirley Young of Westerville, Ohio; brother, Orville Thomas of Oberlin; and grandson, Eric Wilson of Dayton.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold Coleman Sr.; her parents, Robert and Lula Thomas; sisters, Fern Georges and Lola Hamlin; and a niece Annette Watkins.
Services were held at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church where she had been a member. Interment was in Westwood Cemetery.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, February 21, 1995, p. 2.

Wilda Collier
Wilda Collier, age 81, of Lyons, Ohio, passed away on April 22, 2004. Wilda was born in Oberlin, Ohio to parents, Clyde and Iona Wheeler. She grew up in Oberlin[, graduated from OHS in 1940,] and attended Oberlin College. She met Charles Collier in Deshler and they were married April 7, 1942, in the Oberlin Fairchild Chapel. After living 5 years in Columbus, Ohio, Wilda and Chuck moved to a farm in Fulton County on County Road 16 where they lived for more than 50 years.
All her life, education played an important part in Wilda's values, leading her to study whatever subjects caught her interest After earning a bachelors degree from Adrian, MI, she began her teaching career at Packard School, a one-room school in Seneca Township. When Morenci consolidated, she taught elementary school in town. Later, while teaching in Washington Township, she earned a master's degree, then a specialists degree. For several more years, she taught in Sylvania Township. After retirement, she volunteered as a tutor in Texas where she and Chuck spent their winters.
Wilda's special interests covered a wide range. She held a ham radio license, continued the family tradition of beekeeping, read widely and spent many hours on her computer, including developing programming for multiple-state business accounts Before his death, she and Chuck enjoyed traveling, camping, square dancing, golfing, canoeing, family gatherings, and wintering in Texas. Together, they toured numerous world destinations on most continents.
Wilda was preceded in death by a son, Carl in 1947, and her husband, Charles in 2003. Wilda is survived by her brother, Huber Wheeler from River Falls, Wisconsin; children, David Collier and wife, Judy, Paul Collier and wife, Karen, and daughter, Nancy Griffin and husband, John Griffin; grandchildren, Daniel Collier, Mark Collier, Katie Collier, Jeff Collier, JR Collier, JC Griffin, and Josh Griffin. Also surviving are eight great-grandchildren, Sara, Kayla, Allie, Jacob, Hannah and Karena, and Tim and Ashley.
A Memorial service will be held at the East Chesterfield Christian Church, County Road 14, Lyons, Ohio at 10:30 a.m. on May 1, 2004 with lunch following.
If so inclined, the family encourages memorial gifts to be sent to the East Chesterfield Church or Hospice of Northwest Ohio.
The Blade, Toledo, Ohio, Tuesday, April 27, 2004.
WILDA COLLIER, 1922-2004
Teacher in 1-room schoolhouse traveled widely, sold bees' honey
Lyons - Wilda Collier, a longtime elementary teacher who started her career in a one-room school, died Thursday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio.
She was 81 and suffered from congestive heart failure, her son Paul said. She had moved into an assisted living center last year, leaving the Fulton County farm where she had lived since the late 1940s.
Mrs. Collier graduated from Adrian College in the early 1960s, completing her degree in elementary education while she had three young children, held a full-time job as an executive secretary and later a one-room school teacher, and helped her husband Charles on their 80-acre farm west of Lyons.
She started teaching before completing her bachelor's degree. Her first position was at a one-room school in Lenawee County where about 20 children were spread over eight grades.
"She was very creative and good at having all the kids going on something," her son said.
Later she taught at Morenci Elementary and in the Washington Local district. She retired from the Sylvania district, where she had taught at Whiteford and Stranahan elementaries, in the early 1980s.
Every summer while her children were young, the family of five took camping trips, spending two to four weeks living in tents to see every state except Hawaii. They often took a couple of the children's cousins or friends with them to fill their nine-passenger van.
After the children were grown, Mrs. Collier and her husband traveled in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the Panama Canal, and Israel.
"She was a real go-getter," her daughter Nancy Griffin said.
The couple liked to square dance and golf.
They took canoe trips to West Virginia when Mrs. Collier was in her 70s. In those years she learned to use ham radio and the Internet. She worked on genealogy, joined Toastmasters, enjoyed activities with Mensa, and walked two miles a day after she could no longer jog. She was a voracious reader.
"She was just driven to learn," her son Paul said.
As a hobby in retirement, she kept bees and sold honey, which her parents, Clyde and Iona Wheeler, had done full-time when she was a child.
Mrs. Collier was born near Oberlin in Lorain County, the older of two children. She graduated from Oberlin High School in 1940 and attended Oberlin College for about 1 1/2 years before she married in 1942.
They moved to Columbus where he tested milk on dairy farms and she inspected binoculars in a war plant.
After the family moved to Fulton County, she was active in East Chesterfield Christian Church near Lyons for more than 50 years, directing the choir, singing soprano, playing piano, teaching children's and adult's Sunday school classes, and serving as an elder.
Surviving are her sons, David and Paul; daughter, Nancy Griffin; brother, Huber Wheeler; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be in East Chesterfield Christian Church at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
The family suggests any tributes be to Hospice of Northwest Ohio or the church.
The Blade, Toledo, Ohio, Tuesday, April 27, 2004.

Thomas J. Collins
Thomas J. Collins, 18, of Pittsfield Township, was dead on arrival at Elyria Memorial Hospital Monday.
Born March 26, 1971, in Amherst, he was a two-year resident of Pittsfield coming from Lorain.
A senior at Oberlin High School, he had been in the auto mechanics program at Lorain County Joint Vocational School.
He was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed weightlifting.
Survivors include his father, William; his mother, Irene Collins-Eckenrode of Lorain; brothers, Billy of Lorain, and Michael at home; a sister Michelle of Lorain; paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Collins of Garrison, Ky.; maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ice of Vermilion; and great-grandparents, Thelma Parker of Lorain, and Mr. and Mrs. Clem Ice of Zephyrhills, Fla.
Friends may call today 4-9 p.m. at John J. Gluvna Funeral Chapel, Lorain, and Friday at Plummer-Gaydos Funeral Home, Vanceburg, Ky.
The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Wednesday, April 5, 1989, p. B-2.

Willa Idelle (Bliss) Collins
Willa Bliss Collins died June 9, 1987, at age 71. She was born in Ridgeville, Ohio, [graduated from OHS in 1932 and from Oberlin College in 1936,] and pursued further studies at Western Reserve U. and Lake Erie College. She was involved in music for over 30 years as a teacher, performer, and administrator. She is survived by her husband, Hilbert S.; a daughter; two brothers, including Louis Bliss ’39 [OHS ‘35]; and two grandchildren.
The Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Oberlin, Ohio, Fall 1987, p. 46.

Anna L. Collyer
COLLYER, Anna L. [nee Neikirk] age 90, of Palm Harbor, passed away on Friday, Feb. 22, 2008 at her St. Mark Village, Highlands apartment in Palm Harbor. She was preceded in death by her husband Dwight Collyer and is survived by her sons Bruce Collyer, of Cleveland, OH, and Gordon Collyer and his wife Wendy, of Clearwater. Anna was born in Bucyrus, OH on Dec. 15, 1917 and lived during her youth in Oberlin, OH. She graduated from Oberlin High School [in 1935] and then attended business college and worked in Cleveland. After her marriage, Anna and Dwight were long time residents on Oberlin Ave in Lorain, OH, later moving to Amherst, OH. She was a member of Lorain United Methodist Church and active in the church's women's circles and children's programs. Upon Dwight's retirement from U.S. Steel in Lorain, they moved to Beverly Hills, FL where she was blessed to be close to her sister, Mary Cully and her brother, Melvin Neikirk in Sarasota for many wonderful years. Anna was also blessed with a grandson John Collyer who, with his wife Michele, live in Bealeton Virginia with Anna's great-grandchildren Hayden and Avery. A Service of Remembrance will be held at St. Mark Assisted Living Facility, 880 Highland Ave., Palm Harbor, FL on Saturday, March 8th. Final interment will be at Westwood Cemetery in Oberlin, OH, with services at the Cowling Funeral Home on March 29th. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Heart Association. Sylvan Abbey Funeral Home 727-796-1992 SylvanAbbey.com
St. Petersburg Times, South Pinellas Ed., St. Petersburg, Fla., March 1, 2008, p. 8B.

Mrs. Cullen Colton
Faith Peirce Colton, 75, of Glen Rock, N.J., former Oberlin resident, was found stabbed to death in her home on Jan. 29.
She grew up in Oberlin, where her father was professor of economics at Oberlin College, [graduated from Oberlin High School in 1925,] and received a bachelor’s degree from OC in 1929, and a master’s degree from Smith College in 1930. Prior to her marriage she taught French in several colleges, and after her husband’s death in 1953 taught French at Ridgewood, N.J. High School until retiring in 1974.
She is survived by two sons, Paul of Washington, D.C., and Peter of Glen Rock.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, February 16, 1984, p. 2.
Faith Peirce Colton died Jan. 29, 1984. Her son, Peter, 33, reported to the Ridgewood (N.J.) police that he had found his mother stabbed to death in their home in Glen Rock. Peter was subsequently charged with the murder of his mother and was committed to Bergen Pines County Hospital in Paramus, N.J., for a 15-day psychiatric examination. Formal arraignment was to follow a psychiatric evaluation and a charge of first degree homicide was expected. Peter apparently had a history of psychiatric problems but did not offer a motive.
Mrs. Colton was born Jan. 23, 1909, in Iowa City, the daughter of economics professor (1921-40) Paul S. Peirce and Hattie (Wasmuth 1922-23, 1926-27) Peirce. She graduated magna cum laude from Oberlin with a degree in French and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She was president of the French Club and French House. She received the MA in French from Smith in 1930 and studied at Middlebury, NYU, U. Mich., U. Minnesota, Columbia and U. Vermont and had completed all the coursework for a doctorate.
She taught modern language at Hofstra College, Coker College in Hartsville, S.C., and Winthrop College in Rock Hill, S.C., and the Old Trail School in Akron. After the death of her husband, Cullen B. Colton, in 1953, she went back to teaching French at Ridgewood High School, remaining there for 20 years.
Mrs. Colton was active in numerous educational organizations. In recent years she had taken trips to China, France and Germany and maintained an active interest in several professional organizations for foreign language teachers. In 1983 she went to Paris for the International Conference of Language Teachers. She was also involved in the PTA and was former president of the Oberlin Women’s Club of New York.
With her husband, whom she married in 1942, she edited a quotation book for Funk & Wagnalls entitled F.P.A.’s Favorite Quotations. Mr. Colton was the son of Alfred E. ’81 and Clara (Smith ’81) Colton and grandson of the Rev. Moses H. ’50 and Sophia (Porter ’57) Smith. Her marriage (1938-41) to Harry F. Williams ended in divorce.
She leaves a son, Paul A., of Washington, D.C.
The Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Oberlin, Ohio, Spring 1984, p. 72.

Litell “Jake” Colvin
Litell “Jake” Colvin, Jr., passed away May 20, 2004 at his home in Hiram. [He was a 1943 graduate of OHS.] Beloved husband to the late Margie. Dear father to Bruce (Mary Anne), Karen Carpenter (Donnie), Kathy, Candace Jones (Fred), and Kimberly Watt. Grandfather of 16. Great-Grandfather of 16. Preceded in death by his daughter Connie Taylor and grandson Jeremy. Family will receive friends on Monday May 24, 2004 from 5-8 p.m. at the Stroud-Lawrence Funeral Home 95 South Franklin St., Chagrin Falls. A Service will be held on Tuesday May 25th at the Funeral home. Interment Evergreen Hill Cemetery. Donations may be made to the Veterans Administration or a Charity of one's Choice.
The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, Sunday, May 23, 2004.

Charles Lea Comings
Charles Lea Comings, 91, of Oberlin, died March 7 at Welcome Nursing Home after a long illness.
Mr. Comings was born in Oberlin on May 23, 1907, and lived here all his life. He graduated from Oberlin High School [in 1925] and attended Oberlin College for two years before going to work in the family book store in 1928.
Lea and his brother Fred were the third generation to manage the Comings Book Store. Lea ran the store alone while Fred served in World War II. In 1959, they sold the bookstore to the Co-op. They stayed on as co-managers with Bill Long until 1969.
In 1947, Lea was elected to Oberlin City Council, where he served two consecutive terms.
He was a member of the First Church in Oberlin where he served as a deacon and a volunteer.
He became a director of the Peoples Bank in 1948, continuing to serve for nearly 40 years on the Advisory Board after that bank became a branch of the Lorain County Savings and Trust Co.
He was a longtime treasurer of the Exchange Club before resigning with many others to organize the Oberlin City Club in September 1956. The resignation resulted from their opposition to the national ruling restricting membership to “whites only.” He was an active member of the Oberlin City Club for over 35 years and served as the club secretary for much of that time.
He enjoyed summers at the family cottage at Crystal Lake, Frankfort, Michigan, where he helped each Sunday with the outdoor church services. He also loved to play golf and belonged to a senior citizen bowling league.
Survivors include his wife, Sylvia (nee Smith), whom he married in 1937; daughters, Jane Royce Posniak of Washington, D.C., and Eleanor Lea Comings of Frankfort, Mich.; and one granddaughter, Elizabeth Lea Posniak.
He was preceded in death by his parents Charles and Elizabeth (nee Lea) Comings; and three brothers, Fred, Eugene and Gordon.
A memorial service will be held at First Church in Oberlin at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 19.
Photograph caption: Charles Comings.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, March 16, 1998, p. 2.

Many at Services for C. R. Comings
Chairman of City Council Dies at 66
Army Veteran and Prominent Merchant, Council Member for 23 Years
Charles R. Comings, 66, chairman of the Oberlin Village Council and lifelong resident of Oberlin, died Friday at 11:45 p.m. at Allen Hospital after an illness of several years. Death was caused by an intra-abdominal hemorrhage.
Charles Royce Comings was born in Oberlin April 9, 1879, the son of Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Comings. He attended the Oberlin public schools and Oberlin Academy. Enlisting in the Army in the Spanish-American War in 1899, Mr. Comings reenlisted at the close of the war and served until 1906 during the Philippine Insurrection.
On his return from service he was married to Miss Elizabeth Lea and the couple returned to Oberlin to make their home, Mr. Comings entering business with his father in the A. G. Comings & Son book and music store. He continued as head of the firm after his father’s death until 1939 when he sold his interest to two of his sons, Lea and Fred. He continued to work in the store part-time, however.
First Elected in 1922
First elected to council under the old federal form of government in 1922, Mr. Comings served on that body continuously up to the time of his death. In 1934, upon the death of Earl Morris, Mr. Comings became chairman of the council and served as chairman and police justice from that time on.
Mr. Comings was a member of the Exchange Club and the Chamber of Commerce and was active in the Oberlin Business Men’s Club in the days before the organization of the C. of C. He was a member of Major Woodworth Camp, United Spanish War Veterans, and was a member of the Royal Arcanum, serving as grand regent for Ohio for a two-year term.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; four sons, Lea of Oberlin, Fred, U. S. Army, Eugene and Gordon of Oberlin; his mother, Mrs. A. G. Comings; one sister, Mrs. E. A. Bleck of Okmulgee, Oklahoma; and eight grandchildren.
Stores Close in His Honor
Dean Edward F. Bosworth conducted the funeral services in the First Church Monday afternoon. All Oberlin stores and business offices were closed from 1:30 to 3:00 during the services.
Prof. W. K. Breckenridge played the organ. Pallbearers were C. H. Yocom, J. R. Haylor, P. H. Ohly, J. H. Hall, J. E. Wirkler and Corbett Southam of Elyria. Burial was in Westwood Cemetery.
Photograph caption: Charles Royce Comings
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, July 26, 1945, p. 1.

Wife of Bookstore Founder, Mrs. [Emelie (Royce)] Comings, Dies at 97
Services were held on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Cowling-Stang Funeral home for Mrs. Emelie Royce Comings, 97, one of Oberlin’s oldest residents. She was also one of Oberlin College’s oldest graduates, having received her degree from the college in 1877. Dr. Llewelyn A. Owen conducted the services.
Mrs. Comings died at Haulk’s Rest Home at 8:50 a.m. on Friday after five months of failing health.
Known during her long life for her active interest in the civic and religious affairs of the town, Mrs. Comings even in recent years was a familiar figure downtown each day as she walked from the rest home to the family bookstore, A. G. Comings and Son, up until the last few months. She had been living at the rest home for a number of years, moving there from the family home on Elm St.
She was active and interested in everything, listening to the radio, taking weekly drives and making her daily trip downtown until her last illness.
Mrs. Comings was born on March 27, 1856, [graduated from OHS in 1874,] and had lived in Oberlin all her life except for a few years when her husband taught school out of town. She and Mrs. Comings were married in 1878, the year after Mrs. Comings graduated from college. Up until the time they took over the bookstore in the Royce building owned by Mrs. Comings’ family and founded the A. G. Comings and Son bookstore, Mr. Comings taught in various northern Ohio communities. They came her from Conneaut where Mr. Comings was superintendent of schools and were on their way west to a new teaching post. Samuel Royce, Mrs. Comings’ father, persuaded Mr. Comings to take over the bookstore for a short time and Mr. Comings liked the business so well he decided to stay in Oberlin. In 1888, after about a year of managing the store, Mr. Comings established the business in his own name.
At Mr. Comings’ death in 1932 their son Charles R. Comings carried on the store. Since his death in 1945, Fred and Lea, grandsons of the founder, have conducted the business.
Mrs. Comings was honored in 1952 on the occasion of her 75th college class reunion, being introduced at the Alumni Day luncheon by President Stevenson as one of Oberlin’s oldest and most honored graduates.
Speaking at the funeral services Dr. Owen said, “Communities like Oberlin become great because of the unselfish devotion to public welfare of such noble women as Mrs. Emelie Royce Comings.”
She was a member of First Church, president of the WCTU for many years and a member of the Oberlin Sorosis Club. She was also a member of the Hospital Board for many years serving when the hospital was on S. Cedar St. and when the new hospital was built at its present site.
She is survived by a sister Mrs. Harriet Bleck of Okmulgee, Okla., and four grandsons, Lea, Fred, Eugene, Gordon; and 12 great-grandchildren.
[The obituary is accompanied by an untitled photograph showing Mrs. Comings seated on a sofa and doing needlework as she listens to the radio.]
The Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, August 6, 1953, p. 1.

Eugene Comings, 51, dies of heart attack in Toledo
Funeral services were held Saturday afternoon in Bowling Green for Eugene R. Comings, 51, former Oberlin resident, who died last week Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Comings, senior engineering clerk of the American Lincoln Corp. of Toledo, was in his Toledo office when he was stricken with a heart attack. He died instantly.
Mr. Comings, born in Oberlin Aug. 26, 1912, grew up in Oberlin [and graduated from Oberlin High School in 1930]. He was the son of Mrs. Charles R. Comings. He was a member of Oberlin Masonic lodge and chapter when he lived in Oberlin and was a past patron of Pansy Chapter, Eastern Star. He was employed for eight years in the Lorain County commissioners office.
Surviving Mr. Comings are his wife, Elizabeth; seven children; Mrs. Charles (Dorothy) Koller Jr. of Bryan, Mrs. Virgil (Mary) Gibler of Toledo, Mrs. Norman (Barbara) Applebaum of Bowling Green, and Sandra Ruth, William Eugene, John Frederick and Margaret Lea, all at home; his mother; and two brothers, Lea and Fred Comings, both of Oberlin.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, February 20, 1964, p. 1B.

Fred Andrew Comings
Fred Andrew Comings, 89, lifelong resident of Oberlin, died April 20 at Allen Memorial Hospital after a long illness.
Born in Oberlin, he graduated from Oberlin High School and attended the Oberlin School of Commerce.
During World War II, he served in the Army, receiving the Purple Heart.
He and his brother, Lea, took over the family bookstore, Comings Book Store, in 1928, managing the business until selling it to the Co-op bookstore in 1961. He then worked for the Co-op Bookstore for eight years.
Mr. Comings later became the assistant manager and then manager of the Oberlin Branch of the Lorain National Bank, retiring in 1980.
He was a charter member and past president of the Oberlin Rotary Club, past commander of Karl Wilson Locke Post 103 of the American Legion, and past president of Dollars for Scholars in Oberlin.
He was also active in the Firelands Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
Mr. Comings served two terms on the Oberlin City Council from 1958 to 1962. He was also a former member of the Public Utilities Commission.
He was a member of First Church in Oberlin and served as a deacon for many years.
He enjoyed playing cards and played on a regular basis until his eyesight failed. He also enjoyed golfing, fishing, and bird watching.
Survivors include his wife Jeanette (nee Inscho); sons Richard H. of Lakeside and Sidney D. of Oberlin; five grandchildren; and a brother, Charles Lea Comings of Oberlin.
He was preceded in death by a daughter, Carol J. Comings; a grandson, Carl P. Comings; his parents, Charles and Elizabeth (nee Lea); and brothers A. Gordon and Eugene R.
Private family burial was in Westwood Cemetery.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, at the First Church in Oberlin, with the Rev. Harvey Mazolak officiating.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, April 28, 1998, p. 7.

Last Rites Held on Sunday For ‘Rusty’ Comings, 43
Gordon (Rusty) Comings, lifelong Oberlin resident and representative of one of the old families here, died late Thursday night at Allen Hospital after an illness of four months. He was 43.
He was equipment custodian and supervisor of training in the men’s physical education department of Oberlin College.
The family home is at 249 N. Main.
Rev. Joseph F. King conducted services Sunday afternoon at the Cowling-Stang Funeral Home. Burial was in Westwood Cemetery.
Born in Oberlin Feb. 24, 1916, Mr. Comings graduated from Oberlin High School in 1934. He was a star basketball player in high school and continued an active interest in school athletics all his life.
He was a member of First Church and the young Men’s Club.
Mr. Comings was the son of Mrs. Charles R. Comings and the late Mr. Comings and grandson of the late A. G. Comings. Both father and grandfather were former mayors of Oberlin and carried on the family bookstore business, A. G. Comings and Son.
He is survived by his wife, the former Marion Edwards; two sons, Andrew Gordon and Charles Arthur, both at home; his mother; and three brothers, Lea and Fred of Oberlin and Eugene of Bowling Green.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, January 21, 1960, p. 1B.

Marion E. Comings
Marion E. Comings (nee Edwards) of Franfort, Ky., formerly of Oberlin, died Monday, Oct. 25, 2004, at East Liverpool City Hospital in East Liverpool, Ohio. She was 86.
She graduated from Oberlin High School [in 1936] and the Oberlin School of Commerce.
She was a life member of the Stone City Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star (Pansy). She held many offices in that organization including Worthy Matron and Grand Representative to Wyoming in 1964.
She also enjoyed her many years as a member of the Oberlin Senior Forum.
She is survived by her sons, Andrew Comings of Roseville, Calif., and Charles Comings of Frankfort, Ky.; and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Gordon Comings; parents, Arthur and Amelia (nee Hoeh) Edwards; brothers, Harold and Charles Edwards; and sister, Mildred Murray.
A graveside memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 13, at Westwood Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, November 9, 2004, p. 2.

Mary Elizabeth Conant
Mary Elizabeth Conant (“Beth”) of Eugene died peacefully in her sleep at home on March 15, 2006. Her husband and children attended her. The cause of death was end stage of Crohn’s disease. She was 74 years old.
Beth was born in Oberlin, Ohio on February 24, 1932 to Irene Veasman Frost and Professor Reuel Bryant Frost. She often spoke of an idyllic childhood spent in this pretty northern Ohio college community. She graduated from [OHS in 1950 and from] Oberlin College in June, 1956 and taught art in Bayshore, Long Island schools in 1956-1957.
Her family heritage was linked to the era of Oklahoma-Texas land rush days. As a small boy, her father lived in a prairie sod hut. Late in life he earned a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. There, also, Beth met Eaton Conant of Bristol, New Hampshire when he was studying for the Wisconsin Doctorate in 1955. They were married in Oberlin in June, 1957. The marriage merged Sooner frontier agrarian values with values of the rural New England heritage. The meeting proved felicitous in a forty-nine year, solid marriage.
Other results of the marriage occurred at places that begin to resemble the sites of an athletic conference: Son James Eaton was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1959, Katherine Irene was born in a community near Bloomington, Indiana in 1960, Clarke Robert at the University of Chicago Hospital in 1964, Keith David entered life in Eugene in 1966 as a born-in-Oregon webfoot. The Conants then declined to go for a complete PAC ten conference sweep, deciding that four was an optimal number.
Eaton and all her children and three grandchildren survive Beth, as do a sister, Ada Fay Frost-Muni of Tucson, and her brother Dr. Jack V. Frost of Melbourne, Australia.
In addition to her Oberlin BA, Beth attended classes at Oregon and received an associate degree in accounting at LCC. She was very devoted to advancing educational opportunity and quality in her communities. She was a dedicated art teacher who despaired of art education that was not creative and liberating.
She taught kindergarten and loved to nurture children. Her kitchen was famous for enduring repeated cookie raids from multitudes of militant munchkins.
She was persistently engaged in her community, early on the City Bicycle Committee and election board. She joined the fray to limit field-burning and to pass the Eugene sign ordinance. She worked on the creation and development of the Maude Kerns art center.
She was a quality artist in the visual arts. Her knitting produced garments that won prizes at the Lane County and State fairs.
But her two greatest devotions were for family and beautiful Oregon. With family at the Tumalo cabin she watched the early light on the North sister at dawn. Every year she enjoyed a circuit of hikes; the Obsidian Loop, picnics atop Tam McArthur Rim, the Hardesty Mountain trail, and others. The coast and the blossoms in the valley gave her great pleasure.
Her last gift was a quiet, peaceful exit from life with her assurances that she was comfortable and without pain. She was sorry to leave, but sorry for us and not for herself. She had a delicate health history in late years. She was ready and even anxious to go.
Where do we get such women? How is character like hers developed, and then shared to her legacy, her children.
The family will arrange for ceremonies at a future date. Anderson’s is assisting with other arrangements.
The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, Monday, March 20, 2006.

Harry “Joe” Coniam
Harry "Joe" Coniam, born in Oberlin, passed away Friday, February 1, 2008 at his residence in Berea after a long, courageous battle with cancer.
Joe graduated from Oberlin High School in 1961 [1962] and Capital University in 1965, where he took courses for photography and worked taking pictures for weddings.
He was a former Berea City Councilman from 1985 - 1987, and taught math and photography at Berea High School for over 30 years. He was also a member of St. Mary Church in Berea.
Loving husband and soul mate for 33 years of Barbara (nee Hayes); adored father of Christi Henderson (Erik), Scott and Kimberly; brother of Charles Jack and Carl Jay and the late William; loving brother-in-law, uncle and friend to many; son of the late Vera (nee Baker) and William H.
Friends may call at Baker-Osinski-Kensinger Funeral Home, 206 Front St., Berea, Tuesday, February 5, 2008 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M. A Funeral Mass will be Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 12 Noon at St. Mary Church, 250 Kraft St.,  Berea.
The family suggests memorial contributions to St. Mary Catholic Church Capital Campaign.
The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Sunday, February 3, 2008.

Mrs. G. Miles [Mary Gibson] Conrad
Mrs. Mary E. Conrad, sister of Mrs. Emmett Thompson of 99 South Professor, died on March 27 in Wayne, Pa. Burial was in Raymond Hill Cemetery, Carmel, N.Y. [She was a 1928 graduate of Oberlin High School.]
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, April 7, 1977, p. 7.
Mary Gibson Conrad died March 27[, 1977,] in Wayne, Pa. Born in Oberlin, Dec. 2, 1902 [1909], she was the daughter of the late Mabel Fauver Gibson ’01 and the widow of G. Miles Conrad ’33, former director of Biological Abstracts of Philadelphia. He died in 1964. Mrs. Conrad had been a member of the League of Women Voters and the AAUW. In addition to a son, Thomas, she leaves a sister, Mrs. Emmet Thompson of Oberlin.
The Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Oberlin, Ohio, May/June 1977, p. 39.

Ada May Cook
Ada May Cook, 83, of Oberlin, died March 15 at Welcome Nursing Home after a long illness.
Born in Oberlin on March 21, 1910, she [graduated from OHS in 1927 and] lived most of her life here, but also lived in Columbus several years.
She attended business college in Columbus. She worked as a salesperson and bridal consultant at Cole of Columbus for 25 years, retiring in 1985. In the 1950s she owned and operated a dress shop in Oberlin.
Mrs. Cook was a member of Christ Episcopal Church and a member of the Quota Club.
Survivors include three sisters, Florene Worcester of Oberlin, Hazel Schekelhoff of Huron, and Gertrude Ryan of Homeland, Calif.; and several nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles, and parents, George and Minna Worcester.
Services were March 17 at Christ Episcopal Church with the Rev. Donna B. Ross officiating. Burial was in Westwood Cemetery.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, March 22, 1994, p. 2.

Former Oberlin Resident Dies of Heart Attack [Albert H. Cook]
Oberlin—Word has been received here of the death last Wednesday of Albert H. Cook, 71, former Oberlin resident and reporter for The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, at his home in Buffalo, Minn. Death was attributed to a heart attack.
A native of Oberlin, Mr. Cook attended Oberlin High School [class of 1906] and Oberlin College after which he jointed the staff of The Chronicle-Telegram.
He also worked on the Sandusky Star Journal, Huntington (Ind.) Star Times, South Bend Tribune, Indianapolis Star and Cleveland Leader.
In 1915 Mr. Cook joined the staff of the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press and for 35 years was Sunday editor of the latter paper.
A highlight of his career was receipt of the Twin Cities Newspaper Guild’s award of merit for initiative and resourcefulness, accuracy, concise literary style, and meritorious service to his newspaper.
He is survived by his wife, Jean, a daughter, Mrs. Gordon Burkland, a son Harry, one brother, Harold, of Palmetto, Fla., and a sister, Mrs. Lloyd Blackmer, of Oberlin.
The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Wednesday, June 3, 1959, p. 12.

Died—Carrie Pelton Cook
On Christmas morning, 1900, at 12:45, at her home on South Main street, Mrs. Carrie Pelton Cook, aged 40 years, 9 months and 10 days.
Mrs. Cook was the wife of Mr. H. A. Cook, and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alvan Pelton of this village [and was an 1877 graduate of OHS]. Her illness was of long duration, and her sufferings much of the time intense. But she was patient and uncomplaining. She was a member of the First M. E. Church, and was active in church work so far as her health would permit.
The funeral was held at her late home on Wednesday morning, conducted by Rev. John Wilson, pastor of her church, and the burial was at Westwood cemetery.
Mrs. Cook leaves a husband and four children, her parents, and many other relatives, and a large circle of friends to mourn her loss.
The Oberlin News, Oberlin, Ohio, Friday, December 28, 1900, p. 5.

Mrs. Harold [Dorothy L.] Cook
Mrs. Dorothy Louise Cook, 76, of 704 Forty-ninth Ave., Terrace West, Bradenton, Fla., died in Manatee Hospital Friday after a brief illness.
Mrs. Cook was born in Oberlin, Oct. 4, 1897, [graduated from OHS in 1915,] and lived in Oberlin most of her life before moving to Florida in 1957.
She was a member of the First Methodist Church and the American Legion Auxiliary.
Surviving are her husband Harold; a son Eugene A. Dunlap of St. Petersburg, Fla.; three grandchildren and a sister, Mrs. Carrie Worcester of Bradenton, Fla. Two brothers, Charles and Albert Hallauer preceded her in death.
Friends will be received in the Cowling Funeral Home, Oberlin, tomorrow from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.
Services will be Tuesday at 1 p.m. in the funeral home with the Rev. Donald Yaussy officiating. Burial will be in Westwood Cemetery.
The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Sunday, April 7, 1974, p. E-2.

Elton Strauss Cook
Elton Strauss Cook, [OHS ’26, OC ’30, died] January 28, 1990, in Cincinnati. Born December 24, 1909, in Oberlin, he received a Ph.D. degree from Yale U. A chemist who spent most of his career in cancer research, he retired as dean and professor of chemistry at St. Thomas Institute for Advanced Studies. Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth; two sons; a brother; and two grandchildren.
Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Oberlin, Ohio, Summer 1990, p. 38.

H. E. Cook, bike shop owner, dies at 85
Harold Edwin Cook, 85, died Tuesday afternoon in the Shields Nursing Home, Lorain, where he had been a patient for one week. Since 1974 he had made his home with his daughter Harriet (Mrs. Wendell) Coven at RD 1, Becker Rd., Wakeman.
Born in Oberlin on March 6, 1891, he had lived most of his life in Oberlin [and was a 1909 graduate of OHS]. He owned and operated Cook’s Bike Shop over 18 years, retiring in 1957. Previously he had worked as a plumber in the Oberlin area. He moved to Florida in 1957 and made his home there until 1974.
He was active in many Oberlin civic affairs, was an Army veteran of World War I and member of the Karl Wilson Locke Post of the American Legion.
His wife, Dorothy, preceded him in death in April 1974. In addition to his daughter, he is survived by three grandchildren, one great grandchild, and sister Flora (Mrs. Lloyd) Blackmer, 38 N. Prospect.
Graveside services will be today at 1 p.m. at Westwood Cemetery with the Rev. Donald Yaussy officiating.
The family suggests that memorial contributions may be made to Allen Hospital.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, May 13, 1976, p. 5.

Died on Visit Home for the Holidays
Former Oberlin Girl [Helen House Cook] Died at Cleveland Clinic Hospital Tuesday – Funeral Here Today
Miss Helen House Cook, daughter of Mrs. George Cook of Akron, and former resident of this place, died at the Cleveland Clinic hospital Tuesday morning after a brief illness.
Miss Cook was born in Oberlin 45 years ago, but since her graduation from [Oberlin High School in 1901 and from] Oberlin College has been teaching in Birmingham, Ala. She came north last week to spend the holiday vacation with her mother and became ill a few days later.
Besides her mother she leaves three sisters, Mrs. Bessie Stevens of LaGrange, Miss Pearl and Miss Mary Cook of Akron, three brothers, Robert of Washington, D. C., Carrol of Akron, and Roy of this place. She was a niece of Harry Cook.
The funeral was held Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 from Sedgeman’s funeral parlors, with Rev. Nicholas Van der Pyl officiating. Burial was made in the family lot at Westwood.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, December 25, 1930, p. 1.

Funeral is held Aug. 11 for Miss Marie C. Cook
Funeral services for Miss Marie C. Cook, 57, of 366 W. Lorain were held Aug. 11 at Cowling Funeral Home.
Miss Cook died Aug. 8 at Allen Hospital after a brief illness. She was born in Elyria on Oct. 14, 1911, [graduated from OHS in 1930,] and had lived most of her life in Oberlin. She was employed as a secretary in the biology department of Oberlin College.
She is survived by her mother, Mrs. Bessie Farrar, and one sister, Mrs. Carlton H. (Ruth) Diedrick, both of Oberlin.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, August 28, 1969, p. 18.

Mary Lucile Cook
Miss Mary Lucile Cook, daughter of Mrs. Carrie Cook, died at Kent on Thursday, aged 48. She was a graduate of [OHS in 1907 and of] Oberlin [College] with the class of 1912. Following funeral services at Kent Saturday morning, the body will be brought to Oberlin for burial at Westwood at 1 p.m. In addition to her mother Miss Cook leaves two sisters, Mrs. Frank Stevens of Oberlin and Miss Pearl Cook of Kent, and three brothers, Roy of Oberlin, Robert of Arlington, Virginia, and Carroll of Akron. Harry Cook of Oberlin is an uncle.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Friday, March 12, 1937, p. 1.

William Henry Cook Jr.
William Henry Cook jr. of Oberlin died Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, at the Elms Convalescent Home in Wellington. He was 85.
Born Jan. 28, 1922, in Lorain, he had lived in Oberlin since 1938. He graduated from Oberlin High School in 1941.
He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in California and the Philippine Islands during World War II from 1942 to 1946. He worked as a letter carrier for the Oberlin Post Office for 35 year, retiring inn 1984.
Mr. Cook was a member of the South Amherst United Methodist Church, Rochester Historical Society, AARP #395, Tappan Square Dance Club, and the West Coast Square Dance Club of Florida.
He enjoyed travel, camping, gardening, and square dancing. He and his wife enjoyed spending winters in Bradenton, Fla.
Mr. Cook is survived by his wife of 59 years, Leah (nee Burdue); nieces Linda Backus and Sandy Desjardine; nephew, Bill Clapp; and several great nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, William H. Sr. and Mary (nee Day) Cook; and a sister, Eleanor Clapp.
Services will be at 11 a.m. today at Cowling Funeral Home, 228 S. Main St., the Rev. Gary Lundsford, pastor of South Amherst First United Methodist Church, officiating. Burial will be at Clarksville Methodist Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to the South Amherst United Methodist Church, 201 W. Main, South Amherst, Ohio, 44001.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, October 2, 2007, p. 2.

William Theodore Cooke
William Theodore Cooke, OC’ 25 [and OHS ‘21], died November 21, 1996, in Agoura, Calif., at 93. After earning his MA in physics at the University of Michigan, he was employed by Sperry Rand Corp. as a research physicist until his retirement. Mr. Cooke was predeceased by his first wife, Sibyl Stapleton ’25 [OHS ‘22], in 1965, and his sisters, Frances Lydia Stansfield ’37 [OHS ‘33]and Helen Cooke Cool ’28 [OHS ‘24]. His wife of 27 years, Antoinette, survives him.
Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Oberlin, Ohio, Summer 1997, p. 36.

Helen Cooke Cool
Helen Cooke Cool, 83, of Oberlin Beach, Erie County former Oberlin resident, died last Thursday after a long illness with multiple sclerosis.
Born Feb. 27, 1906, in Oberlin, she was the daughter of Frank T. Cooke and Clara Pall Cooke. She graduated from Oberlin High School [in 1924] and received the bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College in 1928. In 1929 she married an Oberlin classmate, Stephen E. Cool.
She was employed by Western Reserve University Medical School and later worked at the Eastern State Farmers Exchange in Huron.
She was a member of the First United Presbyterian Church, Huron.
She is survived by her husband; a son, William S. Cool of Herndon, Va.; a daughter, Barbara Sayles of Wendell, N.C.; four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Funeral services were held Saturday morning in the Wheland-Foster Funeral Home, Huron.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, March 9, 1989, p. 2.

Chester Cameron Cooley
Chester Cameron Cooley, passed away Friday, June 24, 2005. He was born September 27, 1915, a son of W. Butler and Kathleen Cameron Cooley. He was preceded in death by son Richard Michael Cooley and brothers Ralph and Harold Cooley. Surviving are his wife of sixty-four years, Jeannette Steele Cooley and children, David C. and Susan Cooley, McGayhesville, Va., Lenora G. and Robert Scott, Chesapeake, Va., James A. and Bonnie Cooley, Danville, Va., John D. and Mary Cooley, Jefferson, Maryland; and daughter-in-law Faye Cooley, Boones Mill, Va. Also surviving are 13 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren; and brother Ranson Cooley of Corvallis, Oregon.
Born in Oberlin, Ohio, he graduated from [OHS in 1934, from] Oberlin College and from the Graduate School of Social Administration at Ohio State University. He had a forty-one year career in fund-raising and was executive of Community Chests or United Ways in Morgantown, W.Va., Richmond, Ind. and Lexington, Ky. before coming to Roanoke. He served as Executive Director of the United Way of the Roanoke Valley for twenty-three years before retirement in 1980. He was former secretary of the Southeastern Conference of the United Community Funds and Councils of America. He was an elder in the Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church, a veteran of World War II, secretary-treasurer of the Kiwanis Club of Roanoke for fifteen years, and also a member of the Big Lick Kiwanis Club. He was past president of the Izaak Walton League, past president of the Roanoke Archeological Society and a member of the Virginia Archeological Society. For many years after his retirement he gave color slide programs on archeological digs to children in local schools and to civic clubs. He was an avid fisherman, and a coin, stamp and Indian artifact collector.
A memorial service will be held at the Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Kiwanis Club Foundation or to the Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church.
The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, Virginia, Tuesday, June 28, 2005.

Myrle Harper Cooper
A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow in Westwood Cemetery for Myrle Harper Cooper, 77, father of Annette Watkins of Oberlin. Mr. Cooper died in Minnesota on Oct. 19.
Born in Oberlin on Jan. 4, 1907, he was the grandson of the first black shoemaker in Oberlin, whose home was an important stop on the underground railroad. He was [a 1927 graduate of Oberlin High School and was] one of the first black graduates of Cornell University and at the time only the second black to hold a degree in horticulture. He then served for 14 years as department head and research associate of George Washington Carver at w Institute. He later worked for the Cleveland board of education and served as head of horticulture for the city of Cleveland. After retirement he moved to Minnesota.
He is also survived by his wife of 50 years, Aileen Blake; daughters, Bonnie Banks of Shaker Heights and Bootsie Anderson of Minneapolis; son Buster of Staples, Minn.; 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Memorial services will be held Friday evening from 5-7 p.m. at the Boyd Funeral Home, 15357 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, October 25, 1984, p. 2.

Milton Braithwaite Corlett, Played semi-pro baseball
Milton Braithwaite Corlett, 91, of Elyria died Wednesday at St. John West Shore Hospital in Westlake after a long illness.
Born in Kirtland, he had lived in the Lorain County area for most of his life.
Mr. Corlett was a [1928] graduate of Oberlin High School, where he played on the baseball team.
During the 1920s and 1930s, he played semi-pro baseball.
Mr. Corlett read both water and electric meters for the city of Oberlin.
He also worked for Marion Reserve Power and Light and York International in Elyria as an electrician, before retiring in the mid 1970s.
Survivors include several nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his sons, Richard D. and Christopher; his parents, Thomas and May (nee Braithwaite); a brother, Thomas; and a sister, Marion Oney.
There will be no visitation.
Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. Friday in East Pittsfield Cemetery, Pittsfield Township. The Rev. William Buckeye of First United Methodist Church in Wellington will officiate.
The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Thursday, April 9, 1998, p. D2.

Miss Altha Cornwell Died in Elyria
Miss Altha Cornwell, daughter of Mrs. Anna Cornwell of Follette street, died in Elyria last Thursday, after a lingering illness. [She was an 1899 graduate of OHS.] The remains were brought to Oberlin Friday for burial. Rev. W. B. Winters of Elyria officiated at private services there.
The Oberlin Tribune, Friday, March 14, 1919, p. 1.

Geoffrey (Jeff) Cotton
Geoffrey Bemis Cotton, age 57, of Westerville, passed away suddenly on Monday, January 24, 2000. He was preceded in death by his parents, Arthur and Mable Cotton.
Mr. Cotton was a graduate of [Oberlin High School in 1960 and] Otterbein College in 1964. He was employed by Columbia Gas.
He is survived by his wife, Linda; children, Lori Cotton (Jason) Henry, Jenny Cotton, Matt Arthur, Kelly Arthur and Sarah Arthur; brother, Arthur L. Cotton Jr.; granddaughter, Jasmine Summer Henry; mother and father-in-law, Herb and Peggy Poenisch; sisters-in-law, Beverly (Gary) Christy, Shelia (William) Jamieson and Terri (David) Jones; along with several nieces, nephews, and many friends.
Friends may call at the HILL FUNERAL HOME, 220 S. State St., Westerville, 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, where service will be held 2 p.m. Thursday, Dr. Richard Ellsworth officiating. Interment will be in Pioneer Cemetery.
Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, Ohio,Wednesday, January 26, 2000

Leah Bigglestone Counts
Leah Bigglestone Counts, 42, of Wytheville, Va., former Oberlin resident, died at her home on March 27 after a year’s struggle with cancer.
An Oberlin resident from 1966 to 1979, she attended Oberlin schools and graduated from Oberlin High School in 1972. She graduated from Muskingum College in 1976 and then taught first grade at Eastwood School from 1976 to 1979 before moving to Virginia to teach in Powhatan, a rural school.
She was married to Dennis Counts of Wytheville at the Oberlin United Methodist Church in 1980. She later organized and taught preschool at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Wytheville, beginning in 1986. She was director from 1990 to 1996, when failing health forced her resignation.
Survivors include her husband, Dennis, and three children, Mary, 15, Molly, 13, and Willy, 10; her father and stepmother, William and Kay Bigglestone of Tucson, Ariz.; her brother, Mark, of Tucson; her father-in-law, Dennis Reed Counts Sr. of Wytheville; as well as several uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Mary Grady Bigglestone and her mother-in-law, June Hicks Counts.
Services and burial were held in Wytheville on March 29.
In lieu of flowers, she requested that memorial donations be made to the St. Paul Pre-school, the State Road Chapel, or the George Wythe High School Mighty Maroon Marching Band, all in Wytheville.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, April 8, 1997, p. 2.

J. Paul Court
J. Paul Court, 88, of Oberlin, died April 19 at the Elyria Home, after an illness of three and a half weeks.
Born in Henrietta, he was a lifelong area resident[, a 1919 graduate of Oberlin High School] and was a retired farmer. He was a member of First United Methodist Church.
Mr. Court had served as a Russia Twp. trustee from 1954 to 1977, and was a member of the Lorain County Association of Township Trustees and Clerks, and of the Ohio Township Association those same years.
He was a past chairman of the Allen Memorial Hospital board of trustees, and had served on the board from 1954 to 1977. He served on the Tri-Township Hospital Executive Board the same years.
He was a member of Farm Bureau for more than 45 years, and was a member of its discussion council and correlation committees.
He was on the Lorain County Regional Planning Commission from 1969 to 1970, and received from them an award for Outstanding Community Service for his work with committees on governmental advisory, environmental affairs, housing, regional transportation, and the present rural house numbering system. He also was instrumental in getting laws changed to create county parks.
He is survived by his wife, Kathryn, to whom he was married 66 years; three daughters, Jean Weston of Oberlin, Kathryn Court of Wauwautosa, Wis., and Carolyn McClellan, Deerfield, Ill.; a sister, Ruth Wood, Indianapolis, Ind.; seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Memorial services were held Saturday afternoon in the First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Darrell Woomer officiating.
Mr. Court was buried in a private family service in the Milan Cemetery.
The family suggests memorial contributions, if desired, be made to the First United Methodist Church, Oberlin.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, April 27, 1989, p. 2.

Kathryn H. Court
Kathryn H. Court, 89, died Jan. 4 at her Russia Twp. home.
A native and lifelong resident of Russia Twp. [and 1918 graduate of Oberlin High School], she was an active member of First United Methodist Church, and was also a member of Russia Twp. Farm Women and the AARP.
She enjoyed sewing, rug-hooking, and gardening.
She is survived by three daughters, Jean Weston of Oberlin, Kathryn Court of Wauwautosa, Wis., and Carolyn McClellan of Deerfield, Ill.; seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Paul, in April 1989; brothers, Charles Hahn in 1984 and Harold Hahn in 1947; and a sister, Marian Bukara in 1975.
Services were Monday afternoon in the First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Darrell Woomer officiating. Burial was in Milan Cemetery.
The family suggests that contributions in memory of Mrs. Court be made to the First United Methodist Church.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, January 9, 1990, p. 2.

Kathryn H. Court
Kathryn H. Court, 66, died Jan. 12 in the Hospice Unit of St. Joseph’s Hospital, Milwaukee, Wis., after a 15-month fight against lung cancer.
Born in Oberlin, Miss Court graduated from Oberlin High School [in 1943] and in 1947 from Oberlin College with a major in physical education. She excelled in many sports, holding the javelin throw record for OC for many years.
After teaching physical education and health for several years in the east, she earned her A.M. in physical education from New York University. She spent many years teaching at the middle school level in Wauwatosa, Wis., and spending her summers co-directing Camp Lou-e-len, a girls’ camp in northern Wisconsin, which she co-owned with Elizabeth Kuehl.
Since retirement, she had been very active in Habitat for Humanity in Milwaukee, working twice with Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter. She also drove for the American Cancer Society. She enjoyed golf, fishing, sailing, and bowling. She was a photographer and loved working with wood.
She is survived by two sisters, Jean C. Weston of Oberlin and Carolyn C. McClellan of California, seven nieces and nephews and many devoted friends, including Gracie Morgan and Jane Simon with whom she shared their home.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Paul and Kathryn Court of Oberlin, in 1989 and 1990.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Feb. 1, at First United Methodist Church, 45 S. Professor St., at 11 a.m. Interment will follow in Milan Cemetery.
Memorial gifts may be made to Habitat for Humanity, Milwaukee, Wis.; to St. Joseph’s Hospice Unit, Milwaukee; or to Memorial-Sloan Cancer Center, New York City.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, January 28, 1992, p. 2.

Harriet Jean Coven
Harriet Jean Coven (nee Cook), 76, of Oberlin, died Oct. 2 at Allen Memorial Hospital after a long illness.
Born in Oberlin, she was a 1940 graduate of Oberlin High School. During World War II, she made uniforms at the Bobby Brooks factory in Cleveland. She also learned how to fly an aircraft. Later she was a waitress at the Campus Restaurant.
Mrs. Coven was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary and sang in its quartet. She was a volunteer in the Gift Shop at Allen Memorial Hospital and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
She enjoyed bowling, watching football and Cleveland Indians baseball on TV, sewing, and knitting.
Survivors include a son, Neal Coven of Lacey, Wash.; two daughters, Jean Bates of Wakeman and Gail Rolly of Tumwater, Wash.; and nine grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Wendell Ries Coven; and her parents, Harold and Estella (nee Shanks) Cook.
A graveside service will be held at Camden Cemetery on Friday, Oct. 9, at 10 a.m., with the Rev. Lee Stull of Kipton Community Church officiating.
Cowling Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, October 6, 1998, p. 2.

Brian Adair Coward
Brain Adair Coward, age 46, died Thursday, February 3, 2000.  Born July 10, 1953, in Oberlin, OH, he spent his entire childhood living in Oberlin [he was a member of the OHS class of 1972] and remained in Lorain County until 1994 when he moved to the Toledo area.  Brian worked as a welder and fabrication foreman for the last 20 years.  Motorcycling, hunting, fishing, camping and tennis were his favorite pastimes.
He is survived by his wife of 22 years, Diann (nee: Springer) in Waterville, OH, and two sons, Jason and Brent both in Oberlin.  Three brothers also survive him, David in LaGrange, Daniel in Wellington and Gary in Elyria; four nephews, Dwayne, Eric, Darrin and Kevin; and four nieces, Kimberly, Diane, Nicole and Danielle.
He was preceded in death by his father, Paul Edward; his mother, Maxine Lemoyne (nee: Caswell), and his brother, Robert.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. in the Chapel at Brookdale Cemetery in Elyria on Tuesday, February 8, 2000.
The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Monday, February 7, 2000.

David A. Coward
LaGrange -- David A. Coward, 62, of LaGrange, died Sunday, March 3, 2002, at Specialty Hospital of Lorain, following a brief illness.
He was born Nov. 2, 1939, in Oberlin, and was a lifelong resident of Oberlin and LaGrange. [He graduated from Oberlin High School in 1958.]
Coward was employed by Brunswick Center Ridge Lanes in North Ridgeville for 14 years.
He enjoyed playing horseshoes and cards, doing yard work and gardening.
Survivors include his wife of 40 years, Wanda (nee Burgess); daughter, Diane Leonardi of Wellington; son, Dwayne Coward of Elyria; four grandchildren; and his brothers Daniel of Wellington and Gary of Elyria. He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Maxine (nee Caswell) Coward; and brothers Robert L. Coward and Brian A. Coward.
Friends may call Thursday from 1:30 p.m. until time of memorial service at 2 p.m. at Bauer-Laubenthal Funeral Home, Chestnut Ridge Road and SR 57, Elyria. The Rev. Ray Carpenter, pastor of Faith Baptist Temple, North Ridgeville, will officiate.
The Morning Journal, Lorain, Ohio, Tuesday, March 05, 2002

Margureite V. Coward, 53
New London - Margureite V. "Marge" Coward (nee Boner), 53, of New London, died Friday, Feb. 4, 2000, at I.H.S. of New London at Firelands, New London, following a 5 1/2 year illness.
She was born Feb. 4, 1947, in West Virginia and lived in Oberlin most of her life. She moved to New London three years ago. She was a graduate of Oberlin High School.
Mrs. Coward worked as a cook for the Welcome Nursing Home, Oberlin, for four years.
Survivors include her daughter, Kimberly Watts of Oleana; son, Darrin of New London; one grandson; mother, Olive M. Boner of Oberlin; and sisters Edith A. Goff of Pullman, W.Va., Wanda L. Bayne of Oberlin, Freda B. Day of Crossville, Tenn., and Wilma Jean Toothman of Parkersburg, W.Va. She was preceded in death by her father, Oakey Boner; sister, Ruby Humphrey; and brother, Willard Boner.
Friends may call Sunday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Dicken Funeral Home, 323 Middle Ave., Elyria, where a service will be held Monday at 2 p.m. The Rev. Lee Stull will officiate. Burial will be at Ridge Hill Memorial Park, Amherst Township.
The Morning Journal, Lorain, Ohio, Sunday, February 6, 2000, p. D11

Robert L. Coward