Neva Carol Boyd Coberley

Neva Carol Boyd Coberley

Neva Carol Stainbrook was born in Uniontown, Kan., on Feb. 2, 1935. Her great grandfather, William Stainbrook, was one of the earliest settlers of the Marmaton Valley in 1855, coming to Fort Scott on an ox cart as the Dragoon outpost closed. The family eventually settled at Turkey Creek, Kan. (now a part of Uniontown) before the Civil War. She was one of six daughters born to Claude Hiram Stainbrook and Margaret (nee Lind) Stainbrook at the height of the depression. She and her three older sisters formed a singing group called the "Stainbrook Sisters" and performed around the region. She attended school at the Hog Holler one-room grammar school near the family farm of her grandfather Fred Stainbrook, which was still standing in 2019 on her last visit to the family cemetery, the "Hatch," near Uniontown, which was on donated Stainbrook land. Neva was very active in sports and was on the Uniontown HS Women's varsity basketball team and ran track. At Uniontown High School, she met Donald Lee Boyd, a lineman on the men's football team. He liked to consider himself from Chicago, having spent time there as boy, but he and the Boyd family were long-time Kansas residents in and near Blue Mound, Kan. She and Don married in January 1953 as he was drafted into the Army. He completed training too late for war service, but he and his young wife were posted to Fort Wolters, Mineral Wells, Texas. He worked in civil engineering, assisting the Air Force.

Neva's career was quite diverse. She was an expert typist and grammarian from a lifetime of reading (she loved poetry and mysteries.) Like many in and around Fort Scott, she worked at Western Insurance as a secretary, a job at which she excelled. By 1957, she and Don gave birth to their first child, Dennis Ryan Boyd, followed in 1959 by Kimberly Janelle Boyd (now Wasson) and Gary Wayne Boyd in 1961. With Don becoming a fixture at Montgomery Ward where he excelled as a manager, the family relocated to Lawrence, Kan., in 1965. In Lawrence, Neva worked with the Lutheran Church and joined the University of Kansas Athletic Department as a secretary for the Athletic Director and his assistant in 1966. She was able to travel with the sports teams as they played in venues around the country and Big Eight. The highlight of her time there was the 1969 Orange Bowl. In her capacity within the Athletic Department she got to meet and assist some of the legends of Kansas athletics, including the Riggins brothers and Gail Sayers. She had her fourth and last child, Lisa Ellen Boyd (now Maples) in October 1969, and became a full-time mother until Lisa entered school. She then began working as secretary for the Lawrence School District 497 at Cordley school near the family home on Kentucky Street. Unfortunately, Donald contracted a rare form of cancer secondary to his service in the Army where engineers had worked to clean and support nuclear blast sites. Neva, on her own as a widowed mother, began the second chapter of her life. She returned to work at the Western Insurance Company in its last days in Fort Scott. Living in Redfield, she met Earl Wade Coberley (he went by Wade and his business was "Wade's Aluminum") on a blind date. The two connected immediately. They married in 1979. With her young daughter, they moved to a farm near Hammond, Kan. She was stepmother to a large family: Mae Ellen, Cathy, George "Bud" and Jesse Coberley. The family loved gospel and bluegrass music and Wade was well-respected as a guitarist and singer, with Neva joining in but eschewing the limelight. Neva loved the Lord, read extensively and loved music. She was adept at ear-playing the piano with a deep harmonic and rhythmic sense that allowed her to play everything from Chopin to pop music. She loved her family and was kidded her entire life about her Groundhog Day birthday, to which she feigned outrage but took with great humor. Her mother and grandparents were Swedish, and she took great pride in her Swedish heritage. Her parents and her sisters predeceased her. Her sisters were Stella "Irene" Carpenter, Florence Littrell, Claudia Mullins, Marjorie Brooks and Nancy House. Her sisters and extended families were her pride and joy. Dennis Ryan Boyd, her eldest son, also predeceased her, as did Wade after 38 years of marriage. Living with her daughter Lisa in Aurora Mo., she lived out her last days telling family stories, reading, and waiting for "her time," which came on June 9, 2023. Sister, wife, mother, and closely tied to Marmaton Valley and its rich history, she leaves three children (seven grandchildren and one great grandchild), five step-children and 17 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren.) She touched thousands of lives and quoted long Bible passages from memory her entire life.

Services for Neva will be held at Cheney Witt Funeral Home at 1 p.m. Friday, June 16.