Betty Elaine Coates

Betty Elaine Coates, 95, of El Cerrito, California, passed away on Saturday, May 23, 2020. Born in 1925 in San Jose to Bertel Bertelsen and Laura (Jorgensen) Bertelsen, Betty grew up in in Saratoga, California during the Depression years as one of four daughters of the village blacksmith. During World War II, she moved to San Diego to help with the war effort, learning drafting and drawing plans for the manufacture of airplanes.  After the war, she held various jobs in retail in Oakland. In 1949, she married Howard Coates, and in 1955 they moved to El Cerrito where they would live for the next sixty-one years and raise their three children. Betty and Howard had many happy times with the families of her three sisters, Viola, Carolyn, and Nancy, sharing visits in San Jose, Saratoga, El Cerrito, Gilroy, and Placerville. The coast of California, especially Seacliff State Park, was also a special place, and she enjoyed many early morning breakfasts on the beach with her family.
In the late 1960s, after a time away from the workforce for child raising, Betty returned to drafting, working first for Thomas T. Lunde, a marine engineer in San Francisco, and later for American President Lines in Oakland. While in her fifties, she learned CAD/CAM – computer assisted design and computer assisted manufacturing – and was very appreciative that APL afforded her the opportunity to learn and grow in her profession. Her time with the company, seeing the launch of new lines of container ships that she had helped design, was one of the prides of her life.
Betty and Howard enjoyed traveling together and visited many parts of the world over the years, including Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. One special trip was to Denmark, where they met her Danish relatives, and another special trip was to Australia, to visit some of the cities where Howard had served during the war.
Family was most important to Betty, and she enjoyed the many gatherings of sisters and brothers-in-law, children and nieces and nephews, for Thanksgivings, holidays, or the cousins’ parties of later years. She was always happy to help with her grandchildren, and frequently made the trip from El Cerrito to Moraga to care for them.
Betty was a longtime part of the congregation of the Mira Vista United Church of Christ. She was also a supporter of GRIP, the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program, and she along with Howard was a frequent volunteer at the Souper Center, which serves hot noonday meals to the hungry and homeless. One of her projects was to crochet colorful caps to give away at the Souper Center. She usually had one hundred caps to give away each Christmas. A gardener, she was a member of the El Cerrito Garden Club, and for a time was the editor of their newsletter, The Monthly Thymes. She also enjoyed meetings with her local TOPS club.
Later in life, with the opening of the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park, her contributions during the war were recognized. She delighted in donning the polka-dotted kerchief of a Rosie and taking part in celebrations, always carrying a T-square to mark her work drafting. An oral history of her time during the war was recorded in 2012 and is held at The Bancroft Library.

Betty had a zest for life, a can-do attitude, a love for everyday pleasures, and a wonderful laugh that all who knew her remember with fondness. Betty was preceded in death by Howard, her husband of sixty-seven years. She is survived by her sons Thomas, Kenneth, and Lawrence; daughter-in-law Ashley; and grandchildren Katherine and William.
A private graveside service will be held on June 2 at Sunset View, 101 Colusa Avenue, in El Cerrito, CA.
Donations in her honor can be made to the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program.

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