Mrs. Billye Coates

Billye (Jennings) Coates October 5, 1927 – December 30, 2014 “We will take no material thing with us…but we will take with us the kind words we have said…the kind deeds we have done…the help we have given.” --Richmond Walker   These words epitomize the life of Billye Coates.   An outpouring of gifts---letters, cards, meals, visits, cash, encouraging devotional thoughts from the many books she read, kind words, kind deeds and help—made up her life, and it piled high the treasure Billye took with her.   The first daughter of four to parents Loise and Robert Jennings, Billye was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma at the beginning of the 1920’s Seminole oil boom.  Her sister Pat, Frances, and Carol soon followed.   The Jennings family attended the small Baptist church in the New Lima community, where at the age 12, Billye made the decision to give her heart to Jesus and was baptized in a little country pond.   Her school days were spent in the New Lima community, as well.  She was a natural artist, painting stage scenery for school plays, also performing in those plays, and performing in the marching band.   Billye created the best chocolate soda of her life when she made one for the love of her life, James “Pinky” Coates; the love affair started at the Seminole Rexall Drug Store where she worked during the year of her graduation from Bowlegs High School in 1945.  Billye and Pinky would celebrate their 68th wedding anniversary one month from her passing on January 30, 2015.   Their first home was in Oklahoma City where Pinky worked for the J.C. Penney Co. and Billye for the Home Insurance Co. Billye and Pinky’s son, James Allen “Jim” Coates, Jr. was born there in 1952.  The little family moved closer to extended family and made Seminole their home in 1955, the year their daughter, Vicki Ann Coates, was born.   Billye made a life and a life’s work – raising her children, loving and supporting her husband, and helping her mother and others – and gave of herself selflessly to brighten the corner where she was.  She especially loved creating special moments and memories for her four grandchildren; Jill, Jeff, David and Michael and her three great-grandchildren, Madeline, Lydia and Harrison.   Billye was active in the church where she and Pinky married, the First Baptist Church in Seminole, Oklahoma.  Singing in the choir, teaching young adult women’s Sunday School, supporting youth group activities through generously opening her home, feeding hungry teenagers, and accompanying them on youth trips.   For 16 years, Billye and her Band of Bridge Buddies, made a summer pilgrimage to Crested Butte, Colorado to the home of Newt and Ellen Wall to participate in Bridge Week – dedicated to day-long bridge playing, lots of giggling, great food and camaraderie.  Billye proudly displayed the trophies earned from these events: “Highest Score: 1992, 1996 and 2000.”   Her greatest joy was giving; she tenderly cared for the vagabond, the stranger, the outcast, and the down-and-out, and her family; and found something she could give to lift them up.   Surviving family include her husband of 68 years, James “Pinky” Coates of the home; Billye’s mother Loise Jennings who at the age of 108 lives in Shawnee, Oklahoma; sisters, Pat and her husband Leon Short of Seminole, Oklahoma, Carol and her husband Eldon White of Lake Jackson, Texas; one son, Jim and his wife Tena Coates of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; one daughter, Vicki Coates of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; grandson, Jeff Coates of Washington D.C.; granddaughter, Jill and her husband Roy Mitchell of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; great-grandchildren, Madeline, Lydia and Harrison Mitchell; grandson, David and his wife Frannie Garrett of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; grandson, Michael Franklin of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; sister-in-law, Cuba Coates of Seminole, Oklahoma and Geneva Coates of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; special family members, Richard Angell of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Adnan and his wife Reyne Tarhoni and children Mazin and Laila of Dallas, Texas; numerous nieces, nephews and great life-long friends.   A celebration of Billye’s life will be held at 11:00 a.m., Friday, January 2, 2015 at the First Baptist Church in Seminole located at 420 Reid Street.  Officiating the service will be Rev. Bob Woods, Rev. Russell Vicars, and Rev. Richard Angell.   Casket Bearers will be:  (grandsons) Jeff Coates, David Garrett, Michael Franklin, (nephews) David Short, Harry Coates Jr., Brian Coates, Bruce Coates and Robert Short.   Services are under the direction of Swearingen Funeral Home in Seminole, Oklahoma. Funeral Information: January 2, 2015, 11:00 AM First Baptist Church - Seminole, OK located at 420 Reid Street, Seminole, OK 74868