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Myrtle Adelia Coles, daughter of Edmond DeJean Coles and Ione Drusilla Holden, was born on 7 June 1916 in Leonville, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States.[1][2] Myrtle was present there with her parents and siblings during the 1920 and 1930 censuses.[3][4]
After graduation from high school, Myrtle continued her education at a business college in Beaumont, Texas.[5] By the mid-1930s, she worked for the Sabine Broadcast Company at the Hotel Beaumont. She was living at 599 Willow Street in Beaumont at the time.[2]
While in Beaumont, Myrtle started dating Denis Rivette, the son of Theophile Rivette and Emma Rivette, who she had known from their hometown of Leonville. He was employed in the merchant marines, based out of the port of Beaumont. They began a long distance romance, which lasted several years as she worked in Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Lake Charles while he came and went in the merchant marines and eventually the U.S. Navy.[5]
By the early 1940s, Myrtle's father began to have health problems. She moved in with her parents in Covington, St. Tammany Parish, to help her mother and care for her father. [5] In 1943, Denis was assigned to a newly-commissioned Navy vessel at New Orleans, just across Lake Pontchartrain from Covington, preparing to ship out for the war in Europe. Taking advantage of his three-day shore leave,[5] Denis and Myrtle obtained a marriage license in February 1943,[6] and were married on 25 February 1943. The marriage took place at the home of Rev. A. E. Tibbs, and was witnessed by Myrtle's parents, and by her brother Marion and his wife Lennie Mae.[7][8] After their short honeymoon, Denis shipped out and Myrtle continued to live with her parents in Covington. They corresponded throughout the war.
After the war ended, Denis returned home and they were finally able to begin their lives together as a married couple. He soon found work operating a "jug boat" in Lake Ponchartrain, then with the same company moved to Rockport, Texas, for similar work. That didn't last long, and they soon moved back to Covington, carrying all their possessions in their 1946 model Chevy, Myrtle's ironing board tied to the fender. Denis landed a job in New Orleans, so they moved to the city's uptown district.[5] Myrtle took a job there as a stenographer for Dixie Stove Works, where she continued for several years.[9]
A major hurricane, historically known only as the hurricane of 1947, ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast area from Florida to Louisiana with high winds and flooding.[10] While helping family members who were affected by the flooding, Myrtle and Denis noticed a particular area on the "Metairie Ridge" (an ancient natural levee of the Mississippi River) that was left high and dry. It didn't take long for them to decide to buy their home that year at 333 Woodlawn Avenue, where they lived for the rest of their lives. Myrtle's mother had been widowed three years earlier, and was eventually persuaded to leave Covington and live with them in Metairie.[5]
After years with little hope of ever having children, and having been told by her doctor that it would not be possible, in 1954 they were pleasantly surprised to discover that she was expecting. She quit her job to prepare for their new arrival. After the birth of their only child, Myrtle became a dedicated homemaker, working many hours planning and cooking meals each day, and taking care of the household. She became involved with the Bridgedale Baptist Church, located a few blocks away, as a regular attendee and ultimately as a children's Sunday School teacher. She maintained a successful household for over 30 years.[5]
Myrtle was widowed in 1975 when Denis died of pancreatic cancer. The following year, needing something to do, she went to work as a secretary for T. L. James, a dredging company in Harahan. Their office was originally located on a barge in the Mississippi River, and then later moved to a building in St. Charles Parish after the barge relocated to Houma. She worked there for several years until retiring around 1981.[5]
Myrtle was plagued with a variety of health issues during her lifetime that required medications and surgeries. She eventually recognized that she was unable to live alone safely, and decided to move into a nursing home. After a couple of years of declining health, she died at age 77 on 10 June 1993 at Jefferson Healthcare nursing home in Jefferson, Jefferson Parish.[11] She was buried at Garden of Memories Cemetery in Metairie, beside Denis.
Sources
- ↑ Edmond Coles Family Bible; held by Charles Denis Rivette, Houston, TX; looseleaf sheets of paper clipped to the bible's pages.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Myrtle Adelia Coles, SS no. 459-09-7918, 24 Mar 1937, Application for Account Number (Form SS-5), Social Security Administration, Baltimore, MD; born 7 Jun 1916, Leonville, St. Landry Parish, La.
- ↑ 1920 U.S. Census, St. Landry Parish, LA, population schedule (digital image), accessed 24 Jul 2009; Police Jury Ward 3, ED 94, Sheet 14B, dw.#99, fam.#105, household of Ed Coles.
- ↑ 1930 U.S. Census, St. Landry Parish, LA, population schedule (digital image), accessed 16 Jul 2012; Police Jury Ward 3, ED 49-18, Sheet 1A, Bayou Teche Road, dw.#7, fam.#7, household of Edmond Coles.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Interview with Charles D Rivette, by Joyce Rivette, various dates. Personal recollections and first-hand knowledge of events.
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Orleans Parish Marriage Records," online database, accessed 13 Jan 2021, Myrtle Coles and Denis Rivette, 02/1943, Orleans Parish, Volume 58, Page 507.
- ↑ FamilySearch.org, Louisiana, Parish Marriages, 1837-1957, online database, accessed 14 Jan 2018 (New Orleans, Orleans Parish), marriage; Orleans Parish Courthouse, New Orleans, LA, USA; Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT, microfilm number 2,320,611; Denis Rivette and Myrtle Coles, 25 Feb 1943
- ↑ Benjamin Lippincott Coles Family, Holy Bible (Hartford: Silus Andrus and Son, 1853) (images may be viewed at Coles-1480), last held by Henrietta Stumpf, Arkansas, last viewed Jul 1999
- ↑ Ancestry.com, U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, 1952-53 Polk's New Orleans City Directory, page 903; Rivette Danl mech NO Armature Wks r333 Wood Lawn dr; also, Rivette Myrtle sten Dixie Stove Wks r333 Woodlawn.
- ↑ For more information about the Hurricane of 1947, see "The Killer Hurricane of 1947"
- ↑ Death certificate, certified copy.
