56-Year F.C. Resident Juanita Coe Dies at 94Juanita Swartz Brannan Coe, a resident of Falls Church, Virginia since 1948, died at Fairfax Hospital on December 21, 2004 at the age of 94. Born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, March 8, 1910, Mrs. Coe graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts cum laude, where she was active in drama and music. She came to Washington, D.C. in 1941, entering Army Ordnance as a typist, worked briefly with the former Office of Scientific Research and Development, and remained with the Department of the Army as a Civilian Recruiter until her retirement in 1960. Mrs. Coe was an active member of the Washington, D.C.-based Roosevelt Masquers theater group in the 1940s and early 1950s playing leading roles and character parts and served as a judge in the D.C. Recreation Department's Annual One-Act Play Tournaments. Mrs. Coe met and married her second husband, the late Gerald B. Coe, through the Roosevelt Masquers. Mr. Coe died in 1990. Mrs. Coe was Past Noble Grand of Laurel Rebekah Lodge No. 44, Falls Church, as well as State Jurisdictional Chairman, Odd Fellow/Rebekah United Nations Pilgrimage for Youth, and also a member of the Nor-Va Cedarettes, associated with Nor-Va Forest No. 163, Tall Cedars of Lebanon. Her greatest love and contribution was working with teenage girls in the Rebekah-sponsored Laurelette Theta Rho Girls Club No. 2, for which she served as Advisory Officer for 35 years, from 1960 to 1995. After her retirement from the Department of the Army, Mrs. Coe also served as a volunteer driver for the Red Cross, and also performed this service for the Fish service organization, through the Little River United Church of Christ in Annandale, Virginia. Mrs. Coe was an active member of LRUCC until her death, and a joyful Memorial Service was held at the church in her honor on December 27, 2004. Mrs. Coe is survived by a brother, Wilbur Swartz of Elm Mott, Texas, a daughter, Carolyn A. Earnest of Brunswick, Maine, granddaughters Lynn Farr of Arlington and Susan Becker of Falls Church, four great grandchildren, and nieces, grandnieces and grandnephews in Illinois, Maryland, Oklahoma and Texas. Contributions in memory of Mrs. Coe may be sent to the Music Fund at Little River United Church of Christ, 8410 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, Virginia, 22003-3710 and/or to the Education Fund at Laurel Rebekah Lodge No. 44, 105 N. Maple Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia, 22046. |