Name: Mildred Valentine COFFEY

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Birth: 14 Feb 1905

Father: Newton COFFEY (1875-1969)

Mother: Adelia Gertrude ROBINSON (1878-1973)

Misc. Notes

From Coffey Family stories and notes, compiled by Lynda Clare for 2005 Coffey Reunion:

Mildred was a lieutenant in the army and served as a nurse. At one point, Mildred was sent to Australia. She and her sister, Opal, later discovered that they were both in Australia at the same time.

Mildred went to college in California, but did not like what she had studied - - cooking. So she went to nurses training in Des Moines. Mildred returned to California to work. There she met a minister named Ben Field. They married and moved to North Carolina where they lived until Mildred went to be with the Lord after a brief and sudden battle with cancer.

Family stories:

“Dainty could be such a stubborn pony! With all the Coffey girls piled in the buggy, Dainty simply would not get her hooves muddy in the puddle before her. Mildred, as compassionate as she was, decided to help poor Dainty since she had to have been stuck. Pushing against the back of the buggy with all her weight, Mildred fell face down in the mud when Dainty took off. Through their laughter, the girls ordered Mildred to the back seat. Erma and Dorothy climbed into the front seat with Velma, Carol and Opal. Mildred was on her own for this ride home!

“Mildred was helping her little sister, Erma, do her least favorite chore – milking cows. The girls knew that to make it possible to milk a mother cow, you must wean her calf at least one week earlier. On this particular morning, Erma spotted a calf headed for its mother. She knew she had to stop that calf fast! They could not afford to lose another week’s worth of milk, after all. Erma locked her knees and lifted the calf into her arms, shouting for her sister’s help. And Mildred ran… to the house to get the camera! Boy, was Erma furious! What a sisterly gesture, Mildred!

“The harness was on Dainty and the buggy was all hooked up. Father always got the ponies ready to take us to school and tied them up near the house. (The barn was quite a ways from the house, you see.)

“The older girls had already left for high school. They took the other buggy with the two black ponies, Pet and Beaut. When we were ready for school, we went outside to find that there was no buggy! Father said, ‘Well, she must have left without you. You’ll have to walk.’

“When we got to school, there was Dainty, standing in front of the school house, waiting for us to get out of the buggy and bring her down to the pony shed. The rest of the class was laughing like anything. We weren’t very happy then, but it sure is funny now!

“When the first cars came out, it was a few more years before the Coffey family got their very own ‘Model-T Ford.’ Then all eight Coffey kids would pile in the car with Mother and Father (the older boys were on their own by then) and Father would drive them to church. Back then you didn’t need a license to drive, but for a long time, only Father took the car out. After a while, mother would drive, too. Whoever drove the car was the person who also had to crank the car to start it.”

CENSUS REPORTS:

CENSUS 1940: Mildred Coffey / b: abt 1905 in IA / Lodger / Living in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa

CENSUS 1930: Mildred Coffey / b: abt 1905 in IA / Roomer / Living in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa

CENSUS 1920: Mildred Coffey / b: abt 1904 in IA / Dau / Living in Clay, Wayne, Iowa

CENSUS 1910: Mildred V Coffey / b: abt 1904 in IA / Dau / Living in Clay, Wayne, Iowa

In the 1940 Census, Mildred Coffey was living in Des Moines, and was a Registered Nurse.

Also living in Des Moines was her future husband, Ben Field. Ben was there with his second wife, Thelma (Keith) Field. Also in the household were his three surviving daughters from his first marriage.

(See below for more information about Ben.)

SPOUSE:

Name: Rev. Benjamin Glover FIELD

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Birth: 15 Jul 1889 Pickens Co., SC

Death: 2 Dec 1977 Pickens Co., SC

Burial: New Mountain Grove Cem., Pickens, SC

Occupation: Baptist Minister

Father: Oliver Perry FIELD (1841-1920)

Mother: Averilla ANTHONY (1852-1929)

Ben’s Spouses

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1: Mary Anna LOOPER

Birth: 26 Jul 1886

Death: 17 May 1926

Marriage: 13 Dec 1913 Pickens Co., SC

Children: Nancy (1914-2002)

Odessa (1917-2001)

Katherine (1919-1920)

Elizabeth (1923-)

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2: Thelma KEITH

Birth: 6 Mar 1907 South Carolina

Death: 13 Sep 1948 California

Father: KEITH (-~1910)

Mother: Elsie CHRISTOPHER (~1889-)

Marriage: abt 1930

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3: Mildred Valentine COFFEY

Birth: 14 Feb 1905

Death: Oct 1977

Father: Newton COFFEY (1875-1969)

Mother: Adelia Gertrude ROBINSON (1878-1973)

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