Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1162476
t m c » p u l s e | s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 9 26 Mary Coffey, 1 10 B orn March 20, 1909 in Burgin, Kentucky, Mary Coffey has seen two world wars, victory for the women's suffrage movement, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a man on the moon and the swift rise of the internet. Her father, a shrewd businessman who ran racehorses, foresaw the Great Depression; he sold his land and all but two of their horses and moved his family to Rosenberg, Texas, where he purchased a feed store and rode out the poverty-stricken era through bartering. By the time Coffey was 13, her father had purchased a Model T Ford, which she would drive down cow trails from Rosenberg to Houston. In 1928, she married Otis Coffey, who coached Olympic track and field and boxing teams in Pakistan and helped start 15 commercial colleges abroad. She joined him on his travels and, according to her son, David, has been around the world 18 times and has met presidents, kings and the Queen of England. Her favorite U.S. president is Barack Obama, David added, from whom she has received no fewer than three letters. "It's amazing the places that I have been and seen, because I have made friends with all of these people, and they would take me to the most personal places you ever saw—places that you'd never get to on your own," Coffey said after a bible study in April at Colonial Oaks Senior Living in Sugar Land, where she currently resides. Although Coffey has enjoyed excellent health throughout the majority of her 110 years, she has been treated at hospitals in the Texas Medical Center for routine tests and minor ailments. Coffey's mind remains sharp. She credits her longevity to three things: prayer, bible study, and POND'S cold cream. Not long ago, the skincare company sent her a year's supply after hearing her speak so highly of them. "I wish they'd send me another year's supply," Coffey said in April. "That's what you call faith," her son, David, replied. — Alexandra Becker