MARY GERHARDT WEST
(nee MARY STELLA COFFMAN)
DOB: February 27, 1896
Lacon, IL USA
DOD: July 25, 1989
Anitgo, WI USA
Daughter of James Plummer Coffman and Ella Priscilla (nee Gray) Coffman
Sister to: Emma Olive (Gardner R. Williams), John David (Lizie Ledbetter), James Plummer (Henrietta Beck), Ethal, Elsie, William Gray, Teresa (Marion H. Bennett) and Grace E. (unknown Shafer) Coffman
Wife of William Paul Gerhardt, married Aug. 28, 1918 in Chicago, IL (age 22).
No children were born to this union.
After William Gerhardt’s death in 1954, Mary was married to Roy Foster West on December 16, 1961 (age 58), which is why her name is listed as Mary Gerhardt West.
MARY GERHARDT WEST
Former Beecher resident Mary Gerhardt West, 93, died July 25, 1989, at Eastview Manor nursing home in Antigo, Wisc.
Mrs. West was born Feb. 27, 1896, in Lacon, IL to James and Ella Coffman.
A graduate of Illinois State University, she was formerly a school teacher in the Beecher area. She was a member of the Beecher PTA, Women’s Welfare Club, Hazel Chapter 390, Order of Eastern Star, and the Beecher Community Church.
Mrs. West is survived by a stepdaughter, Norma Jean (West) Wentland of Fence, Wisc. and a sister Grace Shafer of Lacon.
Her husband Paul Gerhardt, was a longtime superintendent of schools in Beecher. He died July 18, 1954. Her second husband Roy Foster West, died August 13, 1971. She was also preceded in death by four sisters and four brothers.
Services were conducted by Rev. Bill Beagle Saturday at the Hack Funeral Home. Entombment was in the Beecher Mausoleum.
The star on Mary’s headstone is the “Eastern Star”
(Editor’s note: What Mary’s obit does not tell us is that before William Paul’s death, Mary and Paul vacationed at a resort in Summitt Lake, Wisconsin. Mary continued to go back to Summitt Lake after William Paul’s death. Mary met and married her second husband, Roy Foster West, at Summit Lake. Roy West also died at Summitt Lake, WI and is buried next to his first wife, Frances Stevens West, in Delavan, Wisconsin, in Spring Grove Cemetery)
Mary’s family members also resting in the mausoleum are:
Husband: William Paul Gerhardt