Valma Jeffcoat

Valma Viola Jeffcoat VIRGINIA BEACH - Valma Viola (Ala) Jeffcoat, born Sept. 19, 1919 in Lanesville, Mass., passed away peacefully of natural causes on April 22, 2010 in Virginia Beach. She was 90 years of age. The daughter of John A. and Amelia (Kolari) Ala, immigrants from Finland, she graduated from Rockport High School in 1937. As a student at Boston University she majored in child development, and in 1943 withdrew from college to enlist in the Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps which later became the WACS. She proudly served her country in World War II in North Africa and Italy. In 1945 while stationed in Italy she met a young paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division, then recovering from combat wounds at the Army Hospital in Naples. In 1946 she and Harold B. Jeffcoat were married at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Lanesville. Hal Jeffcoat went on to play professional baseball for 14 years, 12 in the major leagues as an outfielder and pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. They were married for 61 years until his death in 2007. Valma was a founding member of the Women's in Military Service Memorial and a member of the Women's Army Corps Auxiliary, Chapter 88, of Tampa, Fla. Val and Hal, as they were affectionately called by their friends, attended Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Tampa. They raised three children, Dr. Harold G. Jeffcoat of Ft. Worth, Texas, retired U.S. Navy Capt. John P. Jeffcoat of Virginia Beach and Richard B. Jeffcoat, also of Virginia Beach. Valma loved her two daughters-in- law, Barrie Jeffcoat and Marie Jeffcoat; her three grandchildren, Jennifer Marie Morton, James Michael Jeffcoat and Jacqueline Marie Jeffcoat; as well as two great-grandchildren, Julianna Marie Morton and Ava Grace Morton. A private memorial service will take place in Tampa, and she will be laid to rest beside her husband at the National Military Cemetery in Bushnell, Fla. Arrangements handled by the Cremation Society of Virginia.