Betty Ann Coates

Betty Ann Coates (nee Brannen), age 87 passed away peacefully on March 18, 2017 at Franke Tobey Jones in Tacoma, WA. Betty was born in Des Moines, IA on September 27, 1929, and grew up as part of a large extended family. She recounted many stories of the years spent living together in a big house in Des Moines during the Depression and WWII. She attended Hastings College in Nebraska and later earned a B.A. degree in Psychology from George Washington University in Washington D.C. Betty met George Coates at Hastings College and they married in 1950. She spent many years as a faithful military wife, moving the family 26 times, often across the country, and endeavoring to make each new location the best home possible for her family. In her later years, Betty served as a Deacon and was a long-term devoted member of the Little Church on Prairie. She was also a member of chapter DV, P.E.O., a philanthropic educational organization dedicated to the education of women. She loved her dear friends from those organizations and others she served, as well as the fellow residents of the garden apartments at Tobey Jones. Besides her friends and family, Betty loved cooking, poetry, literature, traveling the world, classical music, and jazz. She had a weakness for plants and flowers, forever finding just one more that she needed for her deck. She was fiercely independent and strong, but always willing to help others; she promoted fairness, kindness, love, and empathy. Her husband MG George E. Coates, son Richard, and grandson Kevin Smith predeceased her. She will be missed by son John and wife Dionysia Sofos, daughter Nancy Smith and husband Matt, and beloved grandchildren Will, Emma, and Henry Smith as well as her sister Jean Reister and husband Hal of Dallas, TX, and sister Carol Henderson and husband Bob of Johnston, IA. A memorial service will be held on May 22, 2017 at 11:00 AM at the Little Church on the Prairie. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Little Church on the Prairie, Lakewood, WA, or the Steilacoom Historical Museum Association, Steilacoom, WA, or a charity of your choice.