Obit Index
Updated: 07 Apr 2013

Daily Oklahoman, The 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 
March 24, 1989

COATS Sanford C., died Wednesday, March 22, 1989 at the age of 82. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ola Coats ; his son, former Mayor of Oklahoma City, Andy Coats ; his daughter, Edith Lee Smith; and four grandchildren; Andrew Michael Coats , John Sanford Digilio, Mary Andrea Digilio, and Sanford Charles Coats.

Sanford Coats was born in Cuero, Texas in 1906. He moved at an early age to Oklahoma City, where he grew up, graduating from Central High School. He attended the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City University and Central State University. He graduated with a degree in engineering in 1933 and went to work as a design engineer with the Portland Cement Association.

He served in the United States Navy in World War II with the rank of Lt. Commander. He was one of the first officers to graduate from the Navy Anti-submarine School at Point Loma, California. He served on destroyers during the Battle of the Atlantic and later in the Pacific at the invasion of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

He was the Founder and President of Fiesta Swimming Pool Company and built more than 1000 swimming pools in the Oklahoma City area.

He was a member of the Downtown Rotary Club of Oklahoma City, where he was honored as a Paul Harris Fellow. He was a long-time member of First Christian Church and the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club.

Services will be at 4:00 p.m., Friday, at Guardian North Funeral Home. Memorials may be made to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation for Alzheimer Research in lieu of flowers.  Guardian North Funeral Home.

photo courtesy Marti Graham, January 2009
 

Sources:  good faith fair use of sources stated above

Compiled, transcribed and submitted by Marti Graham, Oklahoma County, OKGenWeb Coordinator, February 2009. Information posted for educational purposes for viewers and researchers. The contributor is not related to nor researching any of the above.

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