BLAND COFFEY Virginia Bland Dodds Coffey age 91 died Monday June 25, 2007 at Trinity Healthcare in Columbus. Services will be held Thursday at 4:00 p.m. June 28, 2007 at Myrtle United Methodist Church. Visitation will be held Wednesday June 27, 2007 from 6 til 9 at United Funeral Services in New Albany MS. Memorial Funeral Home in Columbus is in charge of local arrangements. Burial will follow the service at Gerzium Cemetery in Myrtle MS. Mrs Coffey was a unique individual. She graduated from Myrtle High School in 1931 and attended Grenada College in Grenada MS for two years. She married James Clark Coffey and was a true Rosie the Riveter . She worked with her husband at Engalls Shipyard at the beginning of World War II; she also worked on airplanes at Fisher Aircraft in Memphis while her husband was overseas. Following World War II she and Clark had two children Pat Coffey Patrick and David Hurley Coffey. While her children were still in high school she took the ACT and entered Ole Miss, graduating in 1967 with a degree in library science. She went to work as a librarian at the Myrtle Attendance Center. Bland was a lifelong Methodist, serving the Lord in many capacities; Sunday School Teacher, WMU leader, and church representative to the Annual Methodist Conference for many years. She was also active in the Home Demonstration Club, the Myrtle PTA, and the Myrtle Library Committee. In addition to her husband she was preceded in death by her parents Grover F. and Nina Olive Nelms Dodds, her sister Ruby Dodds Aldridge, and her brother Bill Dodds. Survivors include her children Pat Coffey Patrick and her husband Russ of Jackson TN, David Hurley Coffey and his wife Terry of Columbus, and grandchildren Lynn Ellen Patrick Box, Marianna Colleen Coffey, Lydia DiCristina Coffey, and Virginia Kathleen (Kaite) Coffey.
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