Ella Mae Coats

Notes:

From FindAGrave:

Ella Mae Coats was born in in Richton, Mississippi. She was the fifth of seven children. At the turn of the last century, Richton was a busy mill town, and her father worked at the mill.

At about 1908, the family moved to Texas settling west of Houston. They later moved to Forest, Texas, west of Nacogdoches. Here the family learned to farm, and her brothers worked in the saw mill.

The family later moved to Pineland. She graduated from Pineland High School. She married Herbert Wood, a mill worker and mechanic that lived on a farm nearby. They were married March 18, 1922 in or beside a Ford Model T. She said that she never knew for sure if she married him or the car! Herbert was a self-taught mechanic and opened a garage in Pineland. Herbert, Jr. was born in Pineland. They moved to Nacogdoches where Herbert, Sr. helped build dormitories at Stephen F. Austin Univ.

In about 1925, the family moved to Beaumont. Herbert worked as a mechanic at the Buick dealership. Herbert later opened a garage on Highland Ave in the South Park community. She attended South Park Baptist Church, and her children graduated from South Park schools.

In the mid 1960s She moved to Jasper where she lived near her sister, Susie. Later she moved to Hemphill. She spent the last years of her life in Beaumont.

Ella Mae attended Tyler Business College. She valued education, expected much from her children, and gave them much responsibility. Her faith was important part of her life.

Ella Mae, or Nannie, as her grandchildren called her, was gregarious, fearless, and could talk to anyone. She loved to travel. She had a green thumb, loved roses, and kept a flower garden or had potted plants wherever she lived.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=79661944

(Research):Not listed with her family at the time of the 1910 census, but present as age 16 and single in 1920. Was she inadvertanly omitted in 1910, or living elsewhere?

Ella married Herbert Wesley Wood, Sr. on 18 Mar 1922 in Pineland, Sabine County, Texas. Herbert (son of Charles Ayers "Jack" Wood and Larrissa Cordelia "Delia" Wright) was born on 30 Nov 1898 in Pineland, Sabine County, Texas; died on 3 Oct 1960 in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas; was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home, Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The Sabine County Reporter
December 15, 2010, page 12

Herbert Wesley Wood, Jr.

Herbert Wesley Wood, Jr., 87, died Friday, Dec. 10, 2010, in Twin Lakes Care Center in San Augustine after an illness. Wood was born in Pineland to Herbert and Ella Mae Coats Wood.

He had lived near Hemphill since 1982 coming from Beaumont where he was owner and operator of Wood and Son Motors. Wood was a U. S. Air Force veteran of World War II. He was also a member of the Gideons, Rotary Club, Littleton Fowler Masonic Lodge #305 Shrine, and a Deacon of the First Baptist Church in Hemphill.

He is survived by his wife, Lorene Boyett Wood of Hemphill; son, Terry and wife Cindy Wood of Beaumont; daughter, Robin and husband Kelly Powell of Sour Lake; and sister, Virginia Christopher of Boerne. He is also survived by seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were conducted Sunday, Dec. 12, in the Starr Funeral Home Chapel. Burial followed in the Weaver Cemetery in Mayflower community.

Services were under the direction of Starr Funeral Home in Hemphill.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, December 2010)

A similiar obituary was published in the San Augustine Tribune on December 16, 2010.

Herbert married Frances Lorene Boyett on 16 Jul 1949 in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas. Frances (daughter of Hamp Hansford Boyett and Mittie Weaver) was born on 3 Nov 1927 in Sabine County, Texas; died on 26 Jan 2021 in Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas; was buried in Weaver Cemetery, Newton County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From FindAGrave:

Mary Ann Strickland was born in Beaumont, Texas in 1928 to Ella Mae and Herbert W. Wood, Jr. She was the third of four surviving children. She lived in the South Park community in Beaumont and was a member of South Park Baptist Church.

Mary Ann attended Lamar University, the University of Texas and graduated from Sam Houston State University with a B.A. in chemistry in 1949. While at Sam Houston, she met her future husband, Robert L. Strickland, at the Baptist Student Union. After graduating, she taught high school in Devers, TX. She was 20 when she began teaching. After they married, they attended Southern Seminary in Ky. They returned to Texas to start a family.

After Bob contracted polio in 1953, she resumed her teaching career. She was the family breadwinner and cared for her husband until his death in 1988. She taught elementary school in Dallas and Spring Branch, high school math in Houston. She eared a M.S. in Library Science and worked as a librarian in junior and senior high schools in Houston.

Mary Ann was active in her church. At Southland and Gulf Meadows Baptist churches in Houston, she served as Sunday School teacher, VBS teacher, committee member and librarian. Mary Ann had the gift of hospitality. She "adopted" several co-workers, students and church members.

In 1996, she moved to Austin where she was a member of Bannockburn Baptist Church. She kept a prayer journal for her Sunday School Class.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=86347143

Family/Spouse: Robert "Bob" Lackey Strickland. Robert was born on 26 Nov 1922 in Tyrone, Texas County, Oklahoma; died on 21 Dec 1988 in Houston, Harris County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From FindAGrave:

Jerry passed away at her home.

Born and raised in Beaumont, she graduated from South Park High School in 1947. She graduated from The University of Texas in 1951 and worked for the State of Texas briefly before beginning a career in teaching and education administration.

She was awarded a Master's Degree from Lamar University in 1963 and a PhD from Texas A&M in 1982. During her career, she taught elementary school, junior high school math, high school math, education courses offered at Lamar, and was a principal at Brice Elementary in Mount Pleasant, Texas before her retirement in 1991.

She was active at First United Methodist Church most of her life and participated in numerous professional and community service organizations. She had many hobbies, including reading, cooking, gardening, and traveling.

Preceded in death by her husband, Doyle Slover Tierce survivors include her children, Virginia Ellen Wallace and her husband James Weldon Wallace and Paul Wood Tierce and his wife Amber White Tierce; grandchildren Paula Lynn Wallace, James Sterling Wallace and his wife Amanda Gardner Wallace and Michael Todd Wallace; brother Herbert Wesley Wood, Jr. and his wife Lorene Boyette Wood, sisters Virginia Wood Christopher, and Mary Ann Wood Strickland.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=32103871

Family/Spouse: Doyle Slover Tierce. Doyle was born on 10 Dec 1920 in Lockney, Floyd County, Texas; died on 9 Nov 2002 in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]