In the fall of 1956, I lived with my cousin in Burlington and attended the Burlington School of Business. Lee and I had been dating since the end of my Junior year, so it was hard to be away from him. I hurried through the six month secretarial course in four months and moved back home. I began working at the Keokuk County Farm Bureau Office in Sigourney right away. Lee and I were married on July 21, 1957. He farmed with his dad and we lived on their rented farm near Keota. then in the summer of 1958, July 30, our daughter, Sheryl, was born. Our house was sold "out from under us" so our family of three moved to a farm south of Thornburg, Iowa - address - Keswick and telephone - What Cheer. We worked for Bruce Shaull until February, 1960, at which time we moved back to the Keota area and rented a farm from Galen Weaver. We were just moved and settled in about a month when our son, Steven, was born on March 3, 1960, the worst snow storm of the year. Both children were born by C-section. I almost died with the second birth, but a quick emergency surgery saved my life.

Another move in the winter of '61-'62 to Sigourney where Lee farmed with his brother, Donald, on the Dave Noller farm west of town. By the month of December, 1963, Lee decided to try his hand at selling Walnut Grove Feed, so we moved to a small house south of Kinross owned by Paul Gent. the job didn't turn out too well, so within three months we moved up the road 1/4 mile to a large house and Lee became the manager of the Kinross Feed and Grain. He also helped his dad with his 30 acre farm. We lived there from March 1964, till April 1965. Lee just couldn't seem to get farming out of his system so he left the feed business and began farming for Clyde Stoutner, north of Keota.

Early in 1968, my brother, John, decided to work for the Morrell Hog Buying Station in Ottumwa, thus leaving my dad needing help. It gave us a good opportunity to get back to farming for ourselves again. Dad became a County Supervisor, so Lee and I farmed my dad's three farms and his dad's farm. In March 1968, we moved to one of my dad's farms. In 1970, the opportunity arose for us to buy my Uncle John Kerr's farm of 120 acres. We were glad to be getting a farm of our own! It is now a Century Farm. With the three places it gave us approximately 550 acres to farm. We raised 100 head of ewes, hogs, cattle, chickens to butcher and hens for eggs. I became a full-fledged "hired-man" - discing in the spring ahead of the planter, in the fall I hauled beans to town or to our bins and ran the combine for most of the corn harvest. I did full-time babysitting in our home from the fall of 1964 till the winter of 1968 to help round out our income. I took over the janitor job at the church for my sister-in-law for a short time, but was needed too much at home. We rode snowmobiles with other area families and belonged to several card clubs through the years. On September 15, 1970, I lost my right thumb in a farming accident. It took a long time to heal.

Lee was chairman of the membership drive for the Farm Bureau in 1971-72. They made their membership goal and that won us a trip to Washington, D.C. with other families in Iowa. The first time we'd ever flown. Visited Dick Coffman family while there. In February, 1975, we won a trip from O's Gold Seed Corn, to Hawaii with Lee's brother, Donald. The summer of 1975 we took the kids to Washington, D.C. Other years we had traveled to Colorado, Kansas and Canada mostly to visit relatives. Teachers always said it was easier for the kids to learn their geography if they had been there.

- - - NOVEMBER 7, 1975 - - - TRAGEDY - - - Lee committed suicide. Sheryl was a senior, Steve a sophomore. We were devastated. My brother came back to farm Dad's place, my father-in-law rented his farm to his neighbor, Mickey McDowell. We still had our 120 acre farm and a lot of machinery. We sold the livestock and grain. John rented my machinery and besides farming with Dad also farmed my farm.

Sheryl went to nursing school in Des Moines. Has worked at hospitals in Iowa City, Iowa; Boulder, Colorado; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Germany and Chicago, Illinois. She was married in May, 1991, and just this spring moved to Los Angeles, California. This has given me an opportunity to do some traveling through the years and see a lot of different places.

Steve attended Kirkwood College in Cedar Rapids the fall of 1978. The next spring he decided he would rather farm, so quit school and came home. At present he is still lilving in a new house that we built on the 120 acre farm and has another 40 acres a few miles away that we are buying. The barn burned down so we replaced it with a 14-pen farrowing house. Steve was married in June, 1982. Two children were born to this union.

On April 15, 1980, I moved to a small house in town. I didn't like living in town, and hoped I wouldn't be there too long. However, it wasn't until April, 1989, before we found a small acreage just outside South English - lots of flowers, trees and shrubs. We are still there and really like it.

Some things that happened during the nine years we lived in town - - My living Kinross class reunion in July, 1981; Steve was married in June, 1982; Jack and Marian, my eighth grade pen-pals from Wales, were here for a three weeks visit in September, 1982; I had cataract surgery for one eye in January, 1984, and the other eye in April, 1988. I was very nearsighted before, but after surgery and implants I have a contact lens in one eye and see fine with the other. Terry and I were married on July 18, 1986; Grand-daughter, Leslie was born August 14, 1986; We celebrated the folks' 50th wedding anniversary November, 1986; My Dad had a heart June, 1987; We went with my folks and an aunt on a trip to Alaska to visit a cousin in September, 1987; Grandson, Cyrus, was born May 20, 1988. Almost forgot the tornado, June, 1984.

We enjoy our little acreage. Have raised chickens and usually have a large garden. Terry was in a football accident in high school and is partially paralyzed. A couple years ago we found out he has Hepatitis C - which he got through blood transfusions after the accident. This liver disorder causes a lot of headaches, fatigue, nausea, muscle and joint aches -- so we just take it a day at a time. This past year he took part in a research program through the University Hospital. I gave him a shot one day a week for six months and we kept records of how he felt each day for a year. My school job takes me away from home from 7:00 am till 1:00 pm and the church job is one afternoon or so a week. We love being with the grandkids and families. We are avid Hawkeye basketball fans. We have some cats, a dog and enjoy watching the many birds that grace our bird feeders.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on May 28th..........

Good to hear from you- Wow. The time has gone by quickly. It will be good to see everyone again...No school today because of a huge snow storm, so thought I'd better take this chance to get this job done. Here is the update to my bio.

May 1996 to present-English Valleys- summer maintenance. December 2, 1996-Grandson, David William, born to Sheryl and Mark Mann. Feb-April 1997 & 1998-Worked at Tax Office in Sigourney(This was only part-time, after school). September 1997-Breakfast server and Title I Reading Associate at English Valleys. August 1998 to present-Title I Reading Associate and Special Ed Associate(No more work with the lunch program! PAL)

January 1999 to present-Volunteer church custodian with three other women. June 1999-Helped for three weeks of summer school at English Valleys along with maintenance. My new 911 address is Willie Coffman, 14343 270th Ave, So. Eng, IA 52335

1994-A spur of the moment vacation through Wisconsin. We took a dinner cruise on the LaCrosse Queen paddle boat, visited Wisconsin Dells and House on the Rock. The price of hogs was lower than it had been in 13 years - $34.00 - $27.50.(Although at this writing {2-18-00} the price was $15.00 or lower this past summer). Terry was in the hospital for a week in December due to the allergic reaction to a cold pill.

1995-Steve was married to Barb a nurse. We got rural water, first time to ever pay a water bill. 1996-We were in a play-"Dog Gone." It took place in the Keokuk County Courthouse. We gave it six times in Sigourney and once at the State Fair. I also had a main part in the reenactment of the Talley War which actually took place in South English. David William Mann was born December 2, so we made a trip to California over Christmas. I also learned to use a computer.

1997-Started my part-time work at the tax office in Sigourned, processing tax returns, going there after I was out of school at 1:00pm and working till 6:00 or 7:00pm. Finished the new room on our house, started last fall, quite a project. On May 27 I had knee arthroscopy surgery. The school principal noticed my limping and offered me the job of Title I Reading Associate. No more lifting the heavy lunch pans! I enjoy working with the kids. My family surprised me on Nov. 29 with a big open house party celebrating my 60th birthday.

1998-Worked at the tax office in Sigourned from February to mid-April after school hours. My dad and mom accompanied us to California to visit Sheryl and family, in June. Summer of record breaking warmth-going back 138 years. In August I began working the Title I Reading Associate and started working with the Special Ed program. I got to go on a field with the 5th and 6th students to Living History Farms, a place I'd always wanted to visit.

1999-Along with three other women, started doing volunteer custodial work at the church. A bad hail storm on April 3rd, broke six windows out of our house and damaged the roof on both house and barn-a reroofing project this summer. Terry fell while trying repair a window and had 'big time' damage to his ankle. Braces all summer and then surgery on September 10. I worked summer maintenance at school and helped with three weeks of summer school. The folks went with us again to California. We enjoyed a trip to the National Sequoia Park and came back to Los Angeles via the coastline. The big Y2K scare. See ya, Willie

Home | Class of 1956 | Update This Page