“She Wanted to Help People”
By: Dexter Ingram
Tags: Power Of Education, Mom, Womens History Month

Lora Coats was born in West Alabama in the early 60’s to Tommy and Alberta Coats. As a child and youngest of three siblings, she loved going to school. However, years later she admits that the school systems in rural Alabama did not adequately prepare her in the areas of reading, writing and math. Those things would not stop her. By 10th grade she knew her life’s work would be to help the elderly or the very young, she wasn’t exactly sure which group, but “She Wanted To Help People”.

She met her first love in her hometown and after graduating High School gave birth to her first son the same year. Her husband, Dexter, joined the U.S. Marine Corps and got his first duty station in Camp Lejune N.C.

Lora quickly went to work to achieve her purpose. She volunteered at the local Naval Hospital as a Childcare Worker as she brought her son with her to work every day.

Lora and Dexter understood how education could shape their son’s future in a positive way and enrolled him in a private Christian School. Their commitment to their son’s early education in this way would shape his future in a butterfly effect that they could never imagine. Lora also worked at that school as a Pre-K teacher.

Soon Lora would enroll in Coastal Carolina Community college to study Pre- elementary education. With Lora’s father only having an elementary education and her mother not graduating high school, Lora was on track to be a first generation college graduate.

Unfortunately things did not work out with Lora and Dexter. One summer day in the early 90’s she moved her now 4 sons from the beaches of Camp Lejune N.C. back to her home in the woodlands of West Alabama. She had some struggles to overcome. Among those was a smart, but arrogant and angry 12 year old. He loved his mother, but didn’t quite understand much of what was going on in his family’s situation. Despite these things, Lora had a purpose and now was her time to live in it.

She moved her family to a small apartment in the local Public Housing Project. She was determined to pull herself up, but not with her own boot straps. She would use and borrow the straps of anyone that was willing to lend. Her mother helped watch her kids on weekends. Neighbors would help get the youngest off the bus during the week. Aunts and Uncles from both sides of her family were always around for those 4 boys. The State and Federal government provided programs that helped with nutrition for her family and grants for her education. She was using the entire community available to her from the whole of the American society. She was going to pull herself up with everyone’s boot straps!

Lora quickly enrolled at the University. She was a full time mom, full time student, with a part time job and somehow managed the energy to excel at everything she was doing. In 1994 she would graduate with a bachelor’s in Elementary Education from Livingston University and in 1998 would graduate with a Master’s in Elementary Education from the same school. Lora became a teacher in the local county school system and quickly went to work fulfilling her purpose of helping young people.

Lora most vividly recalls March of 2000 when she organized a Read-Across America event and invited local leaders, city officials, and even the Governor of Alabama to read to the children in her school system. Everyone she called answered. For at least one day the rush-rush society stopped to read to the kids and show them how important this skill was. Teaching was more than a profession for her, it was her purpose.

After Lora remarried and moved to the northern most parts of Sumter County in Alabama, she and her new husband Roy set out on making sure their now 5 sons would have the best education possible. They made sure learning did not only take place in the classroom and also that it didn’t stop at 3pm. In this particular house high school graduation wasn’t a choice and college was an expectation. Regardless of any fool hardy adventures that their eldest son wanted to undertake before committing to an educational matriculation, they made him go to college first, they needed him to reinforce this example for his 4 younger brothers.

Lora now works in East Alabama as an elementary school teacher and is now embarking on her PhD studies. She will be a Doctor. This will be another generational first for her family. She recalls her Pastor, Reverend Bell, telling her to learn all that she can while she can. As each of her sons have also attended college , mostly because of the example she set, she will no doubt be looking over her shoulder urging them to be the best that they can be and as well never to stop learning or living in their purpose.