Kathryn Coffelt

Kathryn Jewel (Sivley) Coffelt, age 99, passed peacefully into her eternal rest at home, surrounded by family and loved ones on May 13, 2025. Kay was a native Chattanoogan, born June 17, 1925, to Ethel Durham and Russell Milo Sivley on their family farm which stood for generations at the foot of Signal Mountain. The original Sivleys settled that area in 1820 and eventually amassed thousands of acres including the communities of Mountain Creek, Glendale, and Signal Hill as well as 5000 acres on Walden's Ridge. Kay was the third of nine children, Virginia (Turner), Dorothea (Slayton), Betty (Holt), Bill, Kenneth, Barbara (Waters), Carolyn (Minnich) and Calvin; and family lore states the only child Russell was allowed to name – his "Little Jewel." It was several years before electricity and running water reached the farm on then dirt Mountain Creek Road, but despite a hardscrabble life of daily farm chores, the Sivley home was filled with laughter, love and faith. Growing up Kay attended Mountain Creek Baptist Church where she and her sisters learned to read music and sing gospel harmonies and often performed on the locally broadcast T. Perry Brannon radio show together as a quartet. Kay proudly graduated from Red Bank High School, class of 1943, the third graduating class of the new school. As a young woman, she left the farm and with her older sister Virginia worked downtown at Woolworth's department store and then later on her own became a saleswoman for Woods White Company (office supplies), eventually garnering a prominent position as executive vice president and introducing her younger sister Barbara to her own long and successful career as a prominent office supplier and planner. She reminisced fondly about the benefits of her position like her travels to Chicago on buying trips and for trade shows, being one of the first in her family to own a new car, being able to purchase a fine dining set for her parents and wearing the latest ladies' fashions from Picketts.
Attracted to his keen wit and fast cars, Kay "eloped" with the love of her life, J.C. "Clifford" Coffelt, Jr. (and her parents) to Miami, Florida where they were married on New Year's Eve, 1959. They had one son, John Russell, and built their family home on Chickamauga Lake in the Big Ridge area of Hixson. Clifford owned and operated Coffelt's Exxon on Signal Mountain Road, a business started by his father, Clifford, Sr., in 1923, and where Kay helped manage the back office until her husband's retirement in 1987. Together Kay and Clifford faithfully attended White Oak Baptist Church, surprisingly took up square dancing at Alamance Hall in their later years and enjoyed a quiet but busy retirement with volunteer interests and hosting friends and family alike at the lake house each summer. One of Kay's greatest joys in life was her loving family. She enjoyed spending time with her sisters and brothers, nieces, nephews, in-laws and her large extended family. Her family and heart grew to include daughter in-law, Kelly Cronin, and then three adored grandchildren (Kate, Ellis and Carter). Kay resided with Kelly and John and her grandchildren for the final 13 years of her life. There she was continually surrounded by love, laughter and activity, large family parties, preteen sleepovers, a wide assortment of family pets, and an ever-growing group of faithful friends. She will be remembered for her charming smile, Southern graces, and youthful good looks, as well as the warmth she shared with everyone she met.
Kay is survived by her son, daughter in law, grandchildren, sister Barbara (Joseph) Waters, brother-in law David (Carolyn) Minnich, sister-in law Joanne (Calvin) Sivley and many, many nieces and nephews.
A graveside service will be held at Chattanooga Memorial Park at 1pm Thursday, May 22nd officiated by Pastor Tony Williams of White Oak Baptist Church and Father Ed Bacon of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that you consider a donation in Kay's honor to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank or McKamey Animal Center.