MARY SUE SMITHER COFFMAN

Fort Worth, Texas - Mary Sue Smither Coffman, 89, died in Dallas following a series of strokes.

The Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 am Saturday, January 6, at St. John’s Anglican Church, 2401 College Ave., Fort Worth, 76110, with a reception to follow in the church’s Parish Hall.  She will be laid to rest privately in Greenwood Memorial Park.

Mary Sue was born in Huntsville, the daughter of Wilbur Lawrence and Norma Katherine Felder Smither. Both her parents’ families had long Huntsville roots.  The Smithers settled there after 1836 when Texas was still a republic; her Felder relatives arrived later in the 1880s. She always cherished her ties to Huntsville and her family history there.

Mary Sue graduated from Huntsville High School in 1951.  From there, she attended Southern Methodist University and pledged Pi Beta Phi sorority, making close friendships that lasted throughout her life. After two years at SMU, she transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, met her future husband Joe Coffman, and graduated with a BBA in 1955.

That same year, Mary Sue and Joe married at the First Methodist Church of Huntsville. These two Texans moved briefly to Anchorage, Alaska--where Joe was stationed in the U.S. Army--and returned as soon as they could to Joe’s hometown of Fort Worth. She lived in Fort Worth for 65 years, making a home, making new friends, and raising their three sons, Bobby, Larry and Michael.

Of utmost importance to Mary Sue was her faith, her loving family and her many dear friends.  She was a wonderful homemaker and consummate hostess. Everyone who visited always felt warmly welcomed and special. She never forgot a birthday, whether for family or friends. She loved her Tuesday bridge group and her monthly sewing club, the latter of which met many decades after there was no sewing to be done. Her friends and family reaped the benefits of her gourmet cooking. Family meals with her children and their families were highly anticipated, always fun and will never be forgotten. Mary Sue and Joe enjoyed travelling. They took many trips to Europe and annual trips to Santa Fe, New Mexico, especially in August.  Most memorable was the trip for their 50^th wedding anniversary. They took their children and grandchildren to see the amazing natural beauty and scenery of Alaska, the place where their marriage began.

Mary Sue was active at St. John’s Anglican Church for more than 30 years and served on the Episcopal Church Women’s Cabinet.  She was a member of the Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club, the Mayflower Society, and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.  She was a past member of the Forth Worth Garden Club and the Fort Worth Lecture Foundation.

She was preceded in death by her husband. They were married for 62 years.

She is survived by her three sons, Bob and wife, Mary Carol, Larry, Michael and wife, Ami; granddaughter, Cameron; her four grandsons, Sam and wife, Megan, Walker and wife Maddy, John Kelly and wife, Macy, and Thomas; great-grandsons, Liam and Pierson; her sister, Moselle Smither Lawson and husband, Ralph; her sister-in-law, Shirley Coffman Alter and husband, David; nieces, Alison Alter and Nesi Lawson; and nephew, John Lawson and wife, Missy.

Consideration of contributions St. John’s Church, the Salvation Army or the charity of your choice, in her memory, is suggested.