Anna Stinnett Coker

Anna Stinnett Coker, my paternal great-grandmother, was born in June around 1868 in Arkansas, probably in the Marion County region, and died in Joplin, Missouri on 8 April 1954. She is buried in Parkway cemetery in Joplin. She married George W. Coker in the early 1880s and had seven known children. I don't know much about Grandma Coker. I've heard that I met her as a toddler but I have no recollection of that meeting.

I often wonder what her life was like. First, living in Yellville, then later in Joplin. She outlived her husband and most of her children - Logan died a couple of months after his mother, and Myrtle lost touch with the family; she buried the rest of them, including my grandfather Lonnie. Her oldest daughter, Maud, died of typhoid fever in 1911 and her youngest daughter, Bertha, of tuberculosis in 1926.

I found these death notices in the Joplin Globe:
9 April 1954
Mrs. Anna Coker Dies
Mrs. Anna Coker, 86 years old, a Negro resident of Joplin 60 years, died at 215 o'clock yesterday afternoon in her home, 1920 Furnace avenue. Born in Yellville, Ark., she was a member of Holiness church. Surviving are a son, Logan Coker of Grove, Okla., and four grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be announced by Steven Parker mortuary.

11 April 1954
Coker Funeral MondayFuneral services for Mrs. Annie Coker, 86 years old, will be conducted at 2 o'clock Monday afternoon in the Steve Parker chapel. Burial will be in Parkway cemetery. The body will lie in state at the mortuary chapel until the funeral hour. A resident of Joplin 60 years, Mrs Coker died Thursday afternoon at her home 1020 Furnace avenue.