On her 25th
birthday, Helen Elizabeth Struck, started praying to meet someone who would be
good for her so they could have a good life together. She went to mass at noon
on Sunday’s at Blessed Sacrament Catholic church in Kansas City, Kansas. One
Sunday she and her cousin, Lloyd Kroner, were going to a church picnic and they
picked up John Leonard Coakley and a friend of his. John didn’t realize that Helen
was Lloyd’s cousin. When he found out a couple of weeks later he called Helen
and they started dating.[1]
Helen grew up in
Quincy, Adams County, Illinois and after graduating from Quincy High School in
1917 she attended Gem City Business College.[2]
By 1924 she moved to Kansas City, Kansas and was living with her aunt and
uncle, John and Mary (Clay) Kroner, at 2712 Roswell Avenue and working for
Prudential Insurance Company first as a stenographer and later a bookkeeper
recording premiums collected by insurance agents in ledger books.[3]
John served in
World War I in the 17th Field Artillery, Battery B and was wounded
in France in 1918.[4]
His left foot and part of his lower leg were amputated.[5]
After he was discharged, John returned to Kansas City and studied engineering
at the University of Missouri at Rolla.[6]
He was admitted as a special student since he had dropped out of school after 6th
grade to help support the family after the death of his father in 1906.[7]
When he met Helen he was working as a draftsman at Missouri Valley Bridge
Company.[8]
John - 1920's
Helen visited her
parents and friends in Quincy in May 1925 and announced her engagement to John.[9]
The couple were married at Blessed Sacrament on 10 June 1925 at 9:00 a.m. by Reverend E. Dekat.[10] Helen “wore a white crepe frock, made straight line. Her full length tulle veil was fastened with clusters of fern and smilax, and her bouquet was a shower of bride’s roses and baby breath.” Her maid of honor was Margaret Coakley, John’s cousin. Margaret was dressed in “peach color crepe and a white hat, with a bouquet of Sunburst tea roses.” John’s best man was Lloyd Kroner.[11]
Margaret Coakley, Lloyd Kroner, Helen Struck & John Coakley
After the wedding,
breakfast for the bridal party and immediate family was served at the Grand
Hotel, 1702 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri. That night a reception for
about thirty guests was held at the home of John and Mary Kroner. In addition
to the bride’s parents, Stephen and Susan (Clay)Struck from Quincy, Illinois, the
out of town guests in attendance were Mr. and Mrs. William Struck from St.
Joseph, Missouri; Mr. and Mrs. Will Hartman and Mrs. Amos Conger, both from
Quincy.[12]
John and Helen
made their home at 2915 North Twenty Seventh Street until they moved to California.[13]
[1]. Helen Struck Coakley (Kansas City,
Missouri), recorded interview by Jackie Coakley Catlett, 10 July 1984; Coakley
Family Collection; audiotape and transcript privately held by Barbara Coakley, [address for private use,] Dallas, Texas,
2022.
[2]. Helen Elizabeth Struck, Diploma, Quincy High
School, Quincy, Adams, Illinois, 15 June 1917; Coakley Family Collection;
privately held by Barbara Coakley, [address
for private use,] Dallas, Texas, 2022.
[3]. Helen Struck Coakley (Kansas City,
Missouri), recorded interview by Jackie Coakley Catlett, 10 July 1984; Coakley
Family Collection; audiotape and transcript privately held by Barbara Coakley, [address for private use,] Dallas, Texas,
2022. Also, Gate City Directory Co.,
compiler, Polk’s Kansas City Kansas Directory 1924, (Kansas City, Missouri:
The Gate City Directory Co., 1924), 981; also subsequent year by the same title:
(1925) 844.
[4]. John L Coakley, Honorable Discharge from
The United States Army, 29 August 1919, Des Moines, Iowa; Coakley Family
Collection; privately held by Barbara Coakley, [address
for private use,] Dallas, Texas, 2022.
[5]. John L Coakley, health history compiled by
Helen Struck Coakley, Kansas City, Missouri, 1973; Coakley Family Collection; privately
held by Barbara Coakley, [address for
private use,] Dallas, Texas, 2022.
[6]. John Leonard Coakley, academic transcript; School
of Mines and Metallurgy, University of Missouri, Rolla, Missouri; supplied 15
January 1945 to John L. Coakley; privately held by Jackie Coakley Catlett [address for private use,] Overland Park,
Kansas, 2022.
[7]. John Leonard Coakley, Jr., “Remembrances of
My Parents,” p. 1, not dated (Overland Park, Kansas); Coakley Family
Collection; privately held by Barbara Coakley, [address
for private use,] Dallas, Texas, 2022.
[8]. Gate City Directory Co., compiler, Polk’s
Kansas City Kansas Directory 1924, (Kansas City, Missouri: The Gate City
Directory Co., 1924), 226.
[9]. "Helen Struck To Wed On June 10 In Kansas City," (Quincy, Illinois) The Quincy Whig-Journal, 8 May 1925, digital image Quincy Public Library, (http://quincypublicil.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=coakley%20struck&i=f&d=01011838-12312021&m=between&ord=k1&fn=quincy_whig-journal_usa_illinois_quincy_19250508_english_4&df=1&dt=10 : accessed 23 May 2022) page 4 column 2.
[10]. Blessed Sacrament
Catholic Church (2203 Parallel, Kansas City, Kansas), Certificate of Marriage,
(privately held by B Coakley, [Address For Private Use,] Dallas, Texas, 2022),
John Coakley and Elizabeth Helen Struck, marriage certificate (1925).
[11]. Marriage of Helen
Struck and John Coakley, undated clipping, 1925, from unidentified newspaper;
Coakley Family Papers, privately held by Barbara Coakley, [Address for Private
Use], Dallas, Texas, 2022. Inherited in the 1980's from her aunt, Charlene
(Lineberry) Coakley, daughter-in-law of Helen and John, of Kansas City,
Missouri.
[12]. Marriage of Helen
Struck and John Coakley, undated clipping, 1925, from unidentified newspaper;
Coakley Family Papers, privately held by Barbara Coakley, [Address for Private
Use], Dallas, Texas, 2022. Inherited in the 1980's from her aunt, Charlene
(Lineberry) Coakley, daughter-in-law of Helen and John, of Kansas City,
Missouri.
[13]. Marriage of Helen
Struck and John Coakley, undated clipping, 1925, from unidentified newspaper;
Coakley Family Papers, privately held by Barbara Coakley, [Address for Private
Use], Dallas, Texas, 2022. Inherited in the 1980's from her aunt, Charlene
(Lineberry) Coakley, daughter-in-law of Helen and John, of Kansas City,
Missouri. Also, Gate City Directory Co., compiler, Polk’s
Kansas City Kansas Directory 1927, (Kansas City, Missouri: The Gate City
Directory Co., 1927), 167.
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