This oil painting of a school of fish hangs above my desk and is one of my favorites in the world. My great grandmother, Mildred Lawrence Coley, painted it when she was 93-years-old (she was born in 12/19/1892). She was starting a new hobby! I was 10-years-old at the time. I got to know Mildred pretty well, as she lived to be 100! I remember her as a large, kind, forward looking woman with a big smile who was curious about me and my life.
I've always thought "Coley" was a great sounding name and luckily Anna agreed! We might have called our dear boy "Kitchel" after my other amazing, 100-year-old great grandmother - the green-crusader Helen Binney Kitchel! Or after Helen's father Edwin? "Ed" Wells? Or her son "Tim" Kitchel? Or then there was Robert, Wyatt, or Jasper? Those don't have the perfect ring to it them way Coley does. So it was decided! Coley Rollins Wells.
I didn't know Mildred Coley's husband Clarence (born 12/1/1877). He always seems so kind and gentle in photographs. You can see him below as a young man (looking much like his amazing granddaughter Binney - my mom) and then later in life with Mildred. Clarence was an mechanical engineer who invented the blind shaft elevator (which skips the bottom floors) and designed and managed the mechanical side the Equitable Building which was the largest building the world for many years. It was later passed by the Empire State Building in 1931.
So that's a tiny bit of the history behind the name Coley. Next, Anna will have to write a post about Coley's middle name "Rollins." It has a fascinating past. In fact Anna's grandfather Marvin invented the name Rollins in the 1940's.
Clarence Coley circa 1900. My great grandparents Clarence and Mildred Coley circa 1950.
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