Jean Stewart Atha Coakley, a teacher and garden designer who was the first woman senior warden in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, died on Nov. 8. She was 96.
She spent childhood summers in Amagansett and Montauk and moved to Springs with her husband, John Coakley, when she retired from teaching. Here she launched her own garden design business after completing several classes at the New York Botanical Garden. She was a member of the Horticultural Alliance of the Hamptons, serving as its president for a time, and attended St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton.
Mrs. Coakley was born in Brooklyn on Aug. 5, 1929, to Arthur Atha and the former Edith Stewart. She grew up in the borough’s Bay Ridge section, graduating from Fort Hamilton High School in 1947 and from Oswego State Teachers College in 1951. She earned a master’s degree at Queens College in 1954.
She then moved to Washington, D.C., where she was an associate for the American Association of University Women’s international grants program. She had always dreamed of visiting Europe and was able to do so when she became director for Army service clubs, a job that allowed her to travel the world, including the British Isles, Europe, North Africa, and the U.S.-occupied sectors of Berlin.
When she returned home, she taught seventh through ninth grade in Bellport, until a fire at the school in 1963 injured 44 students and teachers. “It was a life-changing event that she carried with her for the rest of her life but rarely spoke about,” according to her obituary material. She then taught kindergarten at the South Haven School in Brookhaven, but took a hiatus from teaching and moved to Virginia for three years while her husband attended the Virginia Theological Seminary.
They returned to Bellport, where he served as rector of Christ Episcopal Church for 14 years and she was a senior warden. She redesigned the prayer garden at the church, “lovingly arranging the planting so something blooms every month.” Mrs. Coakley was active in the Bellport Garden Club and enjoyed watercolor painting.
Her husband died in 2006. Her daughter, Ellen Russell, also died before her.
She is survived by a sister, Lois Zorawick, and her husband, the Rev. Joseph Zorawick, of Manhattan and Brewster, Mass.
A memorial service is to be held on Monday at 11 a.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Bellport, with a light lunch to follow. Donations have been suggested to that church, at 64 South Country Road, Bellport 11713, or to East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach 11978.
