Coats, Sarah Mabel 1911-2005

COATS, TOBIN, MATHEWS

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 2/13/2011 at 17:11:33

The Brooklyn (IA) Chronicle; Aug. 10, 2005

SARAH MABEL COATS, 93

Sarah Mabel Coats, 93, of Brooklyn, died Friday, August 5, 2005, at Brookhaven Nursing Home.

A funeral service for Mabel Coats was held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9 at the Smith Funeral Home in Victor with the Rev. Reva K. Rimmer officiating. Casket bearers were Gene Adkins, Keith Brannian, Lee King, Ed McAdam, Tom Morton, and Roger Steffen. Interment was at Victor Memorial Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be directed to the Guernsey Methodist Church. Condolence messages may be submitted online at www.smithfh.com

Mabel was born the daughter of Charles H. and Clara C. Tobin Coats on Decemer 19, 1911, on the family farm north of Deep River. She attended the Lincoln #3 rural school near her home and graduated from Guernsey High School in 1929. She then attended Iowa State Teachers College and returned to rural Deep River to teach at Lincoln #3 rural school.

Mabel began helping her father and brother Vernon on the family farm. She held a special love for the animals she cared for. She was involved in every aspect of the farm from the accounting to the planting and harvesting.

Mabel was a generous person who spent much of her life trying to improve the quality of life of others. She was very active volunteering and contributing to the Brooklyn, Guernsey and Victor communities. She was a member of the Guernsey Methodist Church and taught Sunday school there.

Mabel is survived by her sister, Eva Miriam Mathews of Colfax; her nephew, Leland Mathews of Des Moines; her niece, Kathy Mathews of Colfax; and her grandnieces, Elizabeth and Suzy Mathews of Colfax.

She was preceded in death by her father, Charles, in 1960; her mother, Clara in 1984; and her brother, Vernon, in 1993.