Not All Family Stories Have Happy Endings

Even in the depths of the Great Depression, people prepared for Christmas as best they could.  Trees were decorated, Christmas carols could be heard on the radio or home record players, and churches celebrated with choral music and children's programs.  The First Baptist Church in Le Mars, Iowa, was no exception.  The choir was practicing for their Christmas cantata and candy had been purchased to give to the parishioners at the upcoming Christmas Eve service.

The Reverend S. A. Jones lived next door to the church, in the parsonage the church provided for him and his wife.  Wednesday afternoon, December 16, 1936, was a normal day for him.  He had finished for the day and was at home when Doris Coppock stopped to ask for the key to the church.  This was not unusual as Doris filled in as church musician at times, and she wanted to practice on the piano for the upcoming Christmas concert.

Doris and her husband Harold had 3 small children, one just 3 months old.  When she didn't come home to prepare supper, he became worried.  Reaching out to family members who lived in Le Mars, he learned that she had not contacted any of them.  He called the police, and they did a check of places she could have visited.  No luck.  The police did stop at the church, but the door was locked, so they assumed that she locked up and returned home.

Harold Coppock was very concerned; in fact, the reason he contacted the police was that he feared a suicide attempt.  Doris had been in ill health and had hinted at "self destruction".  Police in Sioux City had also been notified because she had the family car and it was only 20+ miles from Le Mars.  She had been scheduled to go to the University Hospital in Iowa City for observation that evening, but she was disinclined to go.    

The next afternoon, Reverend Jones walked over to check on the church when he smelled gas.  Gas odor was coming from the church kitchen, located in the basement.  He found her body lying on the floor of the kitchen.  Evidently, she had sat on a chair in front of the stove, turned on the gas, inhaling from the unlit burner.  Becoming unconscious, she fell to the floor and remained there.

Doris left a final note:  "Forgive me Harold, forgive me Daddy.  I cannot help it and forgive me, Jerry and Donna and baby Carolyn.  I'll love you forever and don't forget your mother.  Everyone forgive me: my mother, father and everyone.  Oh, God in Heaven forgive me.  I have been so ill and I can't fight this any longer."  She was 28 years old.  

Doris Leesley was born July 4, 1908, in Moville, Iowa.  Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Leesley, had recently moved to Redding, California.  

In a letter to Helen, my Mother, oldest daughter Donna remembers it as follows:

"It was very difficult for me.  I so missed my Mother.  When (brother) Jerry left in 8th grade to live with Dad in Sioux City I was very unhappy and sad.  Carolyn always had Ann (their caretaker in Le Mars).  She was the only Mother she ever knew, but it was very different for Jerry and I."

I do remember Donna and Carolyn.  Ironically, they lived just down the street from the Baptist Church, and after Harold remarried, they remained in the care of a woman named Ann.  Harold was a younger brother of my grandfather Arnold, and both Grandma and Grandpa helped Ann in so many ways.  Jerry became a very successful realtor in Sioux City, Donna married and lived in Iowa the rest of her life. Carolyn, a runner-up in the Miss Iowa pageant in 1954, and her husband also lived in Iowa.

This is a difficult story to write, even though this happened 7 years before I was born.  Jerry, Donna, and Carolyn were all older than me; however, we would all gather for Coppock family reunions every other summer so I knew them well.  Uncle Harold was a longtime auto salesman for Hoak Oldsmobile in Sioux City, and he and wife Alice had a son my age.  

Since all the participants are now deceased, I wanted to write this story in memory of Doris.  Life is so very precious, and sometimes we need to remember that grief, tragedy and illness happen in all families at one time or another.  R.I.P. Doris.

DAC     2/26/2023