Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Charles Francis COATES
Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) - February 25, 1990
Deceased Name: C. FRANCIS COATES, 77, OF OXFORD
C. Francis Coates, 77, who taught at Oxford High School for more than 40 years before retiring in the late 1970s, died Monday in Southern Chester County Medical Center, Jennersville. He lived in Oxford.
Mr. Coates was born in Upper Oxford Township and was a resident of the Oxford area all his life. He was a 1931 graduate of Oxford High School, and he earned a degree in education from Pennsylvania State University in 1935. He later earned a master's degree in education from Temple University.
It was always Mr. Coates' ambition to become a teacher, and the opportunity to teach at his alma mater came in an unusual way. Because of a rule at the time prohibiting married women from teaching, Mr. Coates was given his chance when a woman teacher at Oxford wed. "He just fell right into it," recalled his wife, Gladys Algard Coates, who said work, in general, was hard to come by during that time.
Mr. Coates quickly proved himself to be a well-rounded and able teacher. At the start of his career, he was asked to teach geography. He later would teach math and other courses at the school, before becoming primarily a social studies teacher.
"He taught almost everything in the school, but basically he taught social studies to juniors and seniors," Mrs. Coates said. "He was truly an educator, was very highly respected and touched a great number of lives."
Referring to her husband as a "very gentle and humble man," Mrs. Coates said that when he retired in 1977 after 42 years of teaching in the school, he refused to allow a party to be thrown for him. "He just wanted to go out quietly."
Mr. Coates was a member of the Oxford United Methodist Church. He was also a veteran of World War II, serving in the Navy.
Besides his wife, he is survived by two sons, Charles H. Coates and Alan E. Coates, and one granddaughter.
A funeral was held Thursday in the Oxford United Methodist Church, Oxford. Burial was in Oxford Cemetery.
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