transcription of Newspapers->Misc->3.10.jpg From the Press & Sun Bulletin, Binghamton, New York dated September 30, 2002: BEGIN Five-generation celebration Theresa Coffey, a resident at Elizabeth Church Manor, Binghamton, celebrated her 100th birthday in August. Pictured from left: granddaughter Maureen Brown of Albany; Theresa Coffey; great-grandson Kevin Worden of Burlington, Vt.; daughter Alice Brown of Elmira; and great-great-granddaughter Helen Brown Worden. Coffey also has two sons who live in Binghamton, Gerald Coffey and Joseph Coffey; 12 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild. END transcription of Newspapers->Deaths->3.10.jpg From the Binghamton Press, Binghamton, New York dated September 27, 2007: BEGIN Teresa (Lake) Coffey of Binghamton Teresa (Lake) Coffey, 105, died Tuesday, September 25, 2007, at Elizabeth Church Manor. She will be joining her husband, Tom after 37 years; she was also predeceased by her father and mother, Marshall and Maria; 12 brothers and sisters, Cleveland, Leo, Lulu, William, Ruth, Frank, Elizabeth, Catherine, Raymond, Evelyn, Harold and Margaret; Also three nephews, [sic] Thomas, Daniel, and Christopher Brown. She is survived by three children, Alice and James Brown, Elmira, Gerald and Darlene Coffey, Binghamton, Joe and Margaret Coffey, Binghamton; five granddaughters, Maureen, Jacqueline, Barbara, Kathleen, and Erin; seven grandsons, Michael, James, Patrick, Tim, Timothy, David, and Tobin; seven great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren, also several nieces and nephews. "Teresa was the last of the Great Lakes". She was a member of St. Mary of the Assumption Church for over 70 years. An employee of Montgomery Wards for 32 years. Teresa was a quiet, gentle woman who loved her family first was dedicated to the rosary and enjoyed playing Bingo. The family would like to thank the staff on the 2nd and 3rd floor of Elizabeth Church Manor for all their loving care of our mother. A Funeral Mass will be offered Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at St. Mary of the Assumption Church, Binghamton. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. Friends may call at the Thomas J. Shea Funeral Home, Inc., 137 Robinson Street, Binghamton, Friday from 4-7 p.m. The family asks in lieu of flowers, please make memorial donations to The Samaritan House, 11 Fayette Street, Binghamton, New York 13901 in memory of Teresa (Lake) Coffey END Written by Maureen Ann Brown (0.1) and read by Maureen on September 29, 2007: BEGIN Grandma 8/7/1902 - 9/25/2007 Wow! Can you believe that Grandma is no longer here? I can't! It's 2007 and she'd been on this earth since 1902! Think of the events she witnessed during more than a century of living. You wonder how a body could take in so much - the invention of the car, the plane, the spaceship; heart transplants, three children, fifteen grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren; a long marriage followed by thirty seven years of widowhood; and all the pain and sorrow that comes with living. Yet somehow she did take it all in, and she did it with grace - and in the company of her rosary. Grandma was always so unassuming and self-reliant. She lived simply and asked nothing of any of us. Having never learned to drive, she walked everywhere. As we begin to acknowledge that our penchant for excess has affected our mother earth, and as we consider steps to reduce this impact, Grandma unwittingly serves as our model. We all have memories of Grandma. I'd like to share some of mine - overnights at her Pine Street home where I used to sleep in the back bedroom, above the kitchen. The mattress was so old, that as I lied down, I was immediately propelled into its sunken interior. On those visits I'd love waking up to the smells and sounds of coffee perking and bacon sizzling. There was always a tin of cookies in the kitchen, tomato plants in the backyard and a picture of the Kennedys hanging on the dining room wall. And at Christmas there were kolachkies and ten-dollar checks tucked into five-and-dime Christmas cards. Those checks kept coming, even after the money would have made more of a difference to her than it did to me. And the rosary was always present. Many years ago, I traveled to Spain. The same day I flew, there was a devastating plane crash on the island of Tenerife, just off the Spanish coast. Fearing I was on that plane, Grandma spent the night with her rosary, praying for my safety. As you can see, her prayers worked! I remember playing penny-ante poker with her, Grandpa, and all the sisters in the backyard of our Third Street home. There were bingo games, tales of adventures in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, and rummy in the nursing home. The time in the nursing home was long and hard, for her, and for her children - Alice, Jerry and Joe - who so faithfully visited year after year. But even there, Grandma, once settled in, didn't complain, but found pleasure in small ways. She loved the tropical fish tank; she took possession of the chair facing the long hall; she liked to hold hands on visits. She loved the time her great-great granddaughter Helen came to visit and sang nursery rhymes in the TV room. And once, as I walked down the hall with Grandma as she navigated her wheelchair, I realized she was racing me! Her feet were propelling her along at a good clip and her face was crinkled into an impish grin. Now you might say this woman was a saint, and I, as her eldest grandchild would probably agree, but she did have a stubborn streak! Remember the time, while hand-delivering bill payments, she slipped on the ice and broke her arm? She didn't call for help until all the payments had been delivered and she'd walked back home. Or the years it took to convince her to have cataract surgery; and her refusal to go to the senior citizen center because it was filled with old people. But was that the reason? Or was Grandma satisfied in the company of her rosary? And let's not forget her refusal to get hearing aids! While traveling between Albany and Corning, my family would often stop at her home for a visit. To get her attention, we would repeatedly pound on the door and ring the bell. I was recently recalling one such occasion with my children - Kevin and Sara. We had spent thirty minutes trying to alert her of our presence. We could see her through the window; the TV was blaring and she was on the phone. No amount of pounding, yelling, pebble-tossing, jumping up-and-down, or waving did the trick that night! She never did hear us. Kevin thinks maybe that's why Grandma lived so long....God's been knocking on her door for years, but she couldn't hear Him. Finally, on Tuesday, she did hear God knocking, and in the last words of St. Teresa of Avila, "My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may your will be done. Oh my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time for us to meet one another." And do you now what Grandma is doing now? She's in heaven, saying the rosary for all of us. END