PEARL IONA VAN HORN

PEARL IONA VAN HORN, daughter of Myrtle Van Horn, daughter of John Calvin Van Horn, daughter of John C. Van Horn. Pearl Iona Van Horn was also the daughter of Guy W. Boyce. She was born in 1912, and died on December 15, 1994.

Pearl Iona Van Horn married Miles Coiner.

Children of Pearl Iona Van Horn and Miles Coiner:

1. Miles Coiner, Jr. who married Mary Pinard.

2. Marjorie Coiner, who married James Gerner.

3. Adalain Coiner, who married Carl Peoples.

OBITUARY FOR PEARL IONA VAN HORN:

From "The Kansas City Star," Page:C4;C3, December 16, 1994:

Pearl Coiner, 81, died Dec. 15, 1994, in the Life Care Center of Overland Park, where she lived. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Alden-Harrington Chapel, Bonner Springs; Burial in Chapel Hill Cemetery. Friends may call from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday at the chapel. The family suggests contributions to the Hickory Villa Retirement Center,Basehor, in Leavenworth County. Mrs. Coiner was a lifelong resident. She formerly managed the school lunch program at the Bonner Springs Elementary School for 30 years. She was a member of the Basehor United Methodist Church and its Methodist Day Circle. Her husband, Miles W. Coiner, Sr., died in 1984. Survivors include a son, Dr. Miles W. Coiner, Jr., Boston; two daughters, Margorie Gerner, Shawnee, and Adalain Peoples, Topeka; two brothers, Paul Canfield, Kansas City, and John Canfield, Hollister, Mo.; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

E-mail letter from Dr. Miles Coiner, Jr., Boston, to Susan Strain 4/6/01

Hello Susan,

I'm also pretty blown away by finally finding the right Myrtle Van Horn and making contact with relatives on that side of the family. We have always known the Canfields. Knew that we were related, but never really knew how. Now, thanks to you, much of that mystery is solved. Here is what I know and it really is complicated by some rather vague stories.

My mother Pearl was the daughter of Myrtle Van Horn and Guy W. Boyce. She was born in 1912 in Kansas City, but had no birth certificate, which led me to believe that her parents were not married. Also I couldn't find any indication of a marriage between two people with those names took place in either Kansas or Missouri. I did know that at a very early age Pearl was in the care of "Grandma Canfield." I don't know her name {but I will get that information} but do know that she had four sons: Allen, Fred, Lawrence, and Frank, all of whom lived in the Kansas City area and were variously involved in trucking.

When she was about four or five years old, Pearl went to live with Allen Canfield and his wife Marjorie. Marjorie was only about 12 years older than Pearl and married Allen when she was 16. The relationship between the two of them always seemed more like sisters than mother and daughter. Marjorie and Allen had two sons: John and Paul Dewey, both of whom are still living in Missouri. In any case, Allen and Marjorie never adopted Pearl though she lived with them until she married.

Recently in the Kansas City directory of 1911 I learned that Allen Canfield and Guy Boyce were roommates before Allen married. And it would seem that Myrtle met Guy through Allen. What happened to Guy Boyce, or who he was, still remains a mystery, although I think I am on his track. My mother did say that when she was in her late teens, Lawrence Canfield told her that he knew her mother, that she had a family and that she would like to meet with Pearl. But for whatever reason my mother said she wasn't interested, so no meeting ever took place.

My mother married my father, Miles Coiner, Sr., when she was 18. At that time she was in nurses training at Providence Hospital in Kansas City. Although she only had an 8th Grade education she somehow managed to get in. How she did it I'm not quite sure, but Pearl was always resourceful. After marrying she dropped out of nurses training and went to work in a factory until my father got the job as caretaker of Camp Naish, the Kansas City, Kansas, Boy Scout Camp. They worked there several years until moving to Gold Hill, Colorado, where my father was a gold miner until the mines closed at the beginning of World War II. He was 4F and first prospected for manganese in Utah and later worked on various construction projects in the west, finally ending up working on the Hanford Project in Washington.

When construction finished at Hanford, he worked as ranch manager in Toppenish, Washington, and finally moved back to Kansas City to take the job with the Boy Scouts once again.

Pearl worked as a cook at both the Boy Scout Camp and in the schools at Bonner Springs, Kansas, where she was something of an institution. My father died in 1984 and my mother in 1995 (the obit says 1994). Pearl was really someone wonderful, and I don't say it simply because she was my mother. All her life she was a beauty, but she wore it lightly. She had an incredible sense of humor, and was a remarkable mother and grandmother. Although she only had an 8th grade education, she was a great reader and a wonderful friend and companion.

NOTE: Social Security Death Index states Miles Coiner, Sr. death year as April, 1984.