Central High School - Red and Black Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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JULIA VALLETTE COFFEY Julia Vallette Coffey 1847-1946 Julia Vallette was a member of the class of June, 1868, and the subject of her very interesting graduation address was Trifles . Life, she said, like the vast ocean, is composed of little drops: little drops of grief and pain, mingled with those of joy, adding color to the whole. What is a trifle? If we mean small events, then our lives are composed of them. All that surrounds us is but a combination of minute particles. ,The largest mountain is but atoms of dust. Young people go forth into the world expecting at once to find some great glorious mission. They are apt to neglect the lesser duties and responsibilities which make, for some, the whole, and for all, the greater part of life. If they waste their time in idleness and discontent, they find themselves not ready when great opportunities occur. After all, what is it but the noblest of trifles that have enabled our greatest men to rise from the low- est stations? Such was Julia Vallette's philosophy, and how nobly did she take care of the millions of trifling duties that were hers throughout the ninety-nine years of her life! She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Au- gust 23, l847, and died at Pana, Illinois, on August 24, 1946. Her mother was Marcy Ann Field, who came from Rhode Island to Cincinnati and married a hatter named Fred- erick A. Vallette, who later moved to St. Louis and bought a sawmill near Cairo, Illi- nois. He made cracker boxes for General C1rant's Army, ran the blockade between St. Louis and Cairo, and had his sawmill burnt by the Southern soldiers. Shortly after Julia Vallette graduated from Central High School, she met T. C. Coffey, who was a student at Shurtleff College, Alton, Illinois. Soon after he finished col- lege and was ordained as a Baptist minister, they were married. After serving many years as pastor of various Baptist Churches in Illi- nois, Rev. Coffey died in Arizona, in 1930. They had one son, Mr. Roy V. Coffey, who has been a commercial teacher at Central since l9l5, and four daughters, one of Whom died in infancy. The other three daughters are Mrs. C. T. Ward, of Tonica, Illinois: Mrs. Frank Allan Cutler, of Pana, Illinois: and Mrs. A. C. Stanfleld, also of Pana, Illinois. Frank Allen Cutler, Jr., a grandson of Julia Vallette Coffey, was the highest rank- ing student and valedictorian of the graduat- ing class at the University of Illinois in 1942. He had a straight A record for four years in chemical engineering. After doing research work in synthetic rubber for the Goodrich Rubber Company during World War II, he was given a fellowship at the University of Minnesota, where he is now Working for his Ph.D. degree. The two granddaughters were both accom- plished musicians and high school teachers of music. Miss Margaret R. Cutler graduated from Eastern Illinois State Teachers College and Miss Marjorie Ward, now Mrs. Joseph Sibigtroth, from Illinois University. Yes, Julia Vallette Coffey spent ninety- nine years dealing with the trifles of life, and what a great mountain of achievement did she build up, one small pebble at a time, as an example of noble living for her children, and grandchildren, and all the world! In fond appreciation Central High School offers a wreath of honor to her memory.

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age of six, he was actively associated with the St. Louis Public School System during ninety of the ninety-six years of his life. Such are the bare facts. They cannot pos- sibly convey the value of his services or the extent of his influence upon the thousands of students with whom he came in contact. His keen mind and understanding heart will long be remembered. At ninety he was still young enough to read the newspapers with- out glasses, and continue a conversation begun six months previously. As stated in the Eightieth Anniversary Number of TI-IE RED AND BLACK. So long as Central High School shall continue to open its doors to aspiring young people, the influence of Central's 'Grand Old Man' will go on and on. Mr. Bryan was born in St. Louis on March 12, 1853, the year Central High School was founded, and died here June 18, 1946. His parents were Mr. and Mrs. William Bryan. In 1876 he married Miss Nethie Case, a grad- uate of Central. They had six children, Dr. William M. C. Bryan, Mrs. Grace Bryan James, Mr. Howard Bryan, and three more daughters who died in early childhood. Dr. William M. C. Bryan married Miss Helen Louise Kimlin. They have four children: Dr. William T. K. Bryan, Dr. James Howard Bryan, Navy Chaplain Richard A. Bryan, and Mrs. Helen Bryan Johnson. Dr. Wil- liam M. C. Bryan died in 1925. Mr. How- ard Bryan Csecond son of W. J. S. Bryanj is an engineer residing in Webster Groves. He has one son, Bruce Bryan, who is now at Purdue University after serving in Ger- many during World War II. Mrs. Grace Bryan James Conly living daughter of W. J. S. Bryanj has a son, Dr. Harold James, and two married daughters, Mrs. Alice Finley and Mrs. Elizabeth Tetge. Mr. William J. S. Bryan had six children, eight grandchildren, and fifteen great-grand- ib- NET1-IIE CASE BRYAN children, all descended from his first wife, Nethie Case Bryan, who died in 1889. In 1898 Mr. Bryan married Miss Grace Kitchen, a Central alumna, whom many re- member as a most gracious and charming per- son. Although she had no children of her own, she was a truly conscientious mother to her husbands children by his first wife, and her interest in the activities of old Central continued as long as she lived. She kept up a list of the addresses of thousands of Central graduates and at her death bequeathed it to the school as a priceless legacy.

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Among the hundreds of Central alumni who have entered the medical profession, one of the most distinguished was Dr. Malvern Bryan Clopton, who was born in St. Louis, in 1876, and graduated from Central in January, 1894. He received his medical de- gree from the University of Virginia, but returned to St. Louis and became professor of clinical surgery at Washington University, and also chief of staff at St. Luke's Hospital. He twice served as president of the State Board of Health, and in 1932 was elected president of the Washington University Cor- poration, a position which he held for ten years. Dr. Clopton served in World War 1 from 1917 to 1919 as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Medical Corps. He went overseas with a hospital unit from Barnes Hospital. He was first attached to a base hospital and later to a mobile hospital unit. His first wife was Mrs. Lily Lambert Vvfalker, who died in 1911. In 1934 he married Mrs. Rachel Lowe Lambert, who sur- vives him. Also surviving are a brother, William H. Clopton, a retired army Colonel of Chevy Chase, Md., and a sister, Mrs. Elkin L. Franklin, of St. Louis. After retiring in 1942, Dr. Clopton spent most of his time at his home at Wianno, Cape Cod, Mass., where he died on April 21, 1947. He was buried in the family lot in Bellefon- taine Cemetery, St. Louis, after funeral serv- ices at Christ Church Cathedral. In 1930, Dr. Clopton donated S250,000 for completion of the Rand-Johnson Memo- rial wing of Barnes Hospital, and the follow- ing year gave a collection of wood cuts and etchings valued at S100,000 to Washington University. Another gift to the university, made in 1945, was his 850-acre Brookhill DR. MALVERN B. CLOPTON Dr. Malvern B. Clopton 1876-1947 farm near Clarksville, Mo., given to be used for research. Dr. Clopton was great not only as a physi- cian and surgeon, but also as a citizen. Dur- ing the seventy-one years of his life he served his city, state, and country, in many capaci- ties, and many honors were bestowed upon him. His name was among those listed in Who's Who in America, and Central High School has long ago enrolled him upon her Super Honor Roll.