Ida W. Coldwell

weeks earlier.

Ida was born February 23, 1923, in Columbia, South Carolina, the younger daughter of Ida Martha DeMoss Koen and Henry Schumacher Wesson. Ida, her parents and older sister Emma moved from South Carolina to Nashville, Tennessee where her father was Director of Organ at Ward-Belmont School. During the summers the family visited maternal grandparents in Pueblo, Colorado and paternal grandparents in Navasota, Texas, where Ida’s great-grandfather had founded a cottonseed oil mill.

In 1930 Ida and her family moved to Belgium where her father studied the carillon. He also studied the organ with Marcel Dupre in Paris. Emma and Ida were enrolled in an Ursuline Convent at Wavre Notre Dame, where the girls were immersed in French. In later years Ida spoke of the extreme homesickness she felt at the convent and her delight at discovering that Emma’s dormitory cubicle was next to hers when she saw Emma’s doll sailing above the walls of the cubicle one night after they had gone to bed.

In 1932 the family returned to Navasota to live with Henry’s parents. Ida graduated from Navasota High School and spent a year as an undergraduate at Hockaday School in Dallas, followed by a year at Holton-Armes in Washington, D.C. before enrolling in the University of Texas where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega Sorority. There she worked in the office of Anna Hiss at the University and later in the Texas Attorney General’s office.

On March 10, 1945 Ida and Lt. Colbert Coldwell of El Paso were wed at St. James Episcopal Church in Houston. Colbert and Ida met at Texas A&M University, about 30 miles from Navasota. When Colbert was discharged from the army, they moved to Navasota where he worked for H. Schumacher Oil Works and Ida enjoyed being near her family. Their daughter Carlisle was born in Navasota.

In 1950 they moved to Clint, Texas where Colbert ran the family farms, and Ida ran a well-ordered household, played bridge, served on the local and county PTA boards and on the Planned Parenthood Board.

In 1963, the year their son Ballard Eubank was born, the Coldwells moved to a home they built on the family farm in Socorro, Texas, where they lived for the next 50 years. Ida made their home into a haven and gathering place for her husband, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as other family and friends, preparing beautifully served meals and formal Sunday Night Dinners with unflagging energy every week. She was graceful and gracious, steadfast, meticulous, self-disciplined and strong, a source of refuge and inspiration to her family as well as being one of the sweetest and most generous people one could ever meet. To the family she evinced the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)

Ida was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, served on the Board of Directors of the El Paso County Historical Society, and she and Colbert were members of the Clint Bridge Club that met monthly for fifty years. Brought up in the Presbyterian Church, Ida became a member of the Episcopal Church at the time of her marriage.

Ida was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Colbert; her sister, Emma and brother-in-law Charles Jacoby; her sisters- and brother-in-law Katherine Coldwell Slutter and Nena and Eliot Shapleigh.

Ida is survived by her daughter Carlisle and son-in-law John Navidomskis; son Ballard Eubank Coldwell; grandsons John Navin Navidomskis and wife Sandra, and William Wesson Navidomskis and wife Mary Anne; great-grandchildren Brooke Noelle and Violet Brisa Navidomskis and Katherine Elizabeth and John William Navidomskis, all of El Paso. She is also survived by her nieces Evelyn Jacoby Scurry, Keri Jacoby Wurbs and husband Ralph, nephew Charles Jacoby and wife Andrea and many beloved great-nieces, and -nephews and cousins including Colbert N. Coldwell and his wife Eleanor. Her nephews on Colbert’s side, Ballard, Eliot, and Colby Shapleigh, who spent summers at the home in Clint, and their families also survive her.

Viewing will take place at Martin Del Angel Funeral Home East, 1460 George Dieter, Tuesday, June 18th from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. Funeral service will be held at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, 300 Riverside Drive, at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 19th. Interment will immediately follow at Evergreen Alameda Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to El Paso County Historical Society, 603 West Yandell Drive, 79902; St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, 300 Riverside Drive, El Paso, 79915; Friends of Rio Bosque, UTEP-CERM, 500 West University Ave., El Paso, 79968-0684; El Paso Playhouse, 2501 Montana, 79902; or a favorite charity.

Service arrangements entrusted to the care of Funeraria Del Angel Martin East, 1460 George Dieter Drive, El Paso, Texas 79936. 915-855-8881. www.martinfuneralhomeeast.com