Barbara Armstrong Cleveland Cofer

Barbara Armstrong Cleveland Cofer was born in New York on June 4, 1928, second daughter of Robertson Cleveland, stockbroker and aide-de-camp to President Roosevelt, and Janet Armstrong Cleveland, charity volunteer; and sister of Janet Cleveland Falvey. She grew up on East 79th in Manhattan, across the way from Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Family summers were spent at retreats in Wickford, Rhode Island, Mill Valley, Connecticut, which was her mother's family home, and Rye, New York where they lived next door to famed cartoonist of unlikely contraptions, Rube Goldberg. He did a special drawing just for the young girl who would come to visit him.
Her family had been instrumental in procuring the land for today's Grand Central Station in New York. She came from a family whose roots went back to the earliest years of Manhattan's history. In later years, she pursued genealogy, tracing family to Scotland and as far back as Charlemagne.
She attended the prestigious Miss Porter's School for Girls in Farmington, Connecticut, where young ladies of station learned proper deportment in addition to their studies. Because of World War II both she and her sister declined the normal coming out as debutantes. Her first job was at TIME in Manhattan.
In 1946, at age 18, she married Edward Lamar Cofer of Porterdale, Georgia, an active Navy serviceman and World War II vet in 1946, who later served in the Korean War. A year later they had their first child. Their married life took them to many states and naval ports both here and abroad, including Virginia, New Jersey, Georgia, South Carolina, Massachusetts, North Chicago, Guantanamo Bay Cuba, Texas, and Missouri.
As a Navy wife she handled family matters when her husband was at sea, which included care of a growing family of six daughters and two sons. A seventh daughter, Barbara ('Sweet Pea'), was lost before birth.
Her life revolved around her family, and in later years, caring for her ailing husband, Edward Lamar Cofer, who later passed away in 1997. When the youngest began school, she joined Becky-David Elementary as an assistant librarian. She loved books and introducing children to them. She also took this opportunity to guide children on proper manners and grammar.Always a staunch patriot, she moved from teenage ideals and liberalism to conservatism as she strove to maintain the values this country was built on. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Mayflower Descendants of Missouri.
She passed away appropriately on Tuesday, Veterans' Day, November 11, from the effects of Alzheimer's. She will be dearly missed by all eight of her children, Janet (Jon) Achmad of Parkville, Maryland; Cheryl (Tom) Vanderhoof of Leonardtown, Maryland; Cecelia (Rod) Wheeler of Snohomish, Washington; Beverly (Rob) Wideman of Warrenton, Missouri; Edward Lamar Cofer, Jr. of St. Louis, Missouri; Cynthia (Jerry) McDowell of O'Fallon, Missouri; Laurel (Ron) Ellison of Overland Park, Kansas; and Robertson Cleveland (Christine) Cofer of St. Louis, Missouri. She also will be dearly missed by her many grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to The Wounded Warrior Project.
A visitation will be held at the Baue Funeral and Memorial Center, 3950 West Clay Street, St. Charles, MO on Sunday, November 16, 2014 from 4:00-8:00 PM. A Funeral Service will be held on Monday, November 17, 2014 at Baue Funeral and Memorial Center Chapel at 10:00 AM. Interment will be at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.