Marion Louise Coan

03/07/2001

Marion Louise Coan, 91, of Devonshire Estates, formerly of 27 Pomeroy Ave., Pittsfield, died Wednesday at Sisters of Providence Care Center in Lenox. Born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, on June 14, 1909, daughter of Henry and Ida Brittain Pitman, she graduated from Yarmouth Academy at the age of 16. Mrs. Coan taught school for two years in a one-room rural schoolhouse in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia. At age 18, she came to the United States and completed a degree in nursing at the Jordan Hospital in Plymouth in 1930 and became a registered nurse. She continued her education at Long Island Hospital in Boston. She retired as head nurse at Sprague Nursing Home in Natick in 1974 and moved to Pittsfield. She was a communicant of Sacred Heart Church in South Natick and Mount Carmel Church in Pittsfield. Mrs. Coan was an active member of the Retired Senior and Volunteer Program in Pittsfield and did volunteer work in the libraries of Reid, Plunkett and Hibbard schools, and at the Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield City Hall, the American Red Cross, the Berkshire Area Office of the Department of Mental Health and Berkshire Community College. Mrs. Coan assisted with the School Department's early screening program and in 1976, helped pack Pittsfield High School prior to its renovation. She enjoyed reading, gardening, sewing and crocheting. Her husband, William Joseph Coan, whom she married Dec. 27, 1936, in Natick, died Dec. 4, 1967. She leaves two sons, Robert M. Coan of Acton and William P. Coan of Pittsfield, superintendent of Lenox Public Schools; a sister, Phyllis Roddick of Nova Scotia; six grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be Saturday at 9:15 from DERY FUNERAL HOME, 54 Bradford St., Pittsfield, followed by a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 10 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, celebrated by the Rev. Geoffrey Deeker, CSS, pastor. Burial will be at the convenience of the family in the family plot at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Natick. Calling hours at the funeral home will be Friday from 4 to 8. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Mount Carmel Church Centennial Organ Fund in care of the funeral home.

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