James Coffey

Remembering Lola: Iowa's Mother of the Year--1944 James Coffey

This is the story of a family growing up in rural Iowa in the early years of the 20th century. Small towns were epicenters of rural life in those days; travel was limited to horse and buggy over dirt roads or by train travel on primitive railroads. The local weekly newspaper was the main source of information for rural people. Television and radio were non-existent in those days. Fortunately for our family, Lola had attended the Howe Academy and graduated from Iowa Wesleten University in their early days. She was convinced of the value of higher learning. Our hometown, Wellman, was only 25 miles from Iowa City and the two places were connected by rail lines. The University of Iowa publicity department supplied information about musical concerts, athletic contests, plays etc. to area weekly newspapers. The University paid for this publicity by providing complimentary tickets to us. We attended many performances.