KNOX — Helen (née Quay) Coulter died Friday, July 28, 2017. She would have been 98 on Monday, Aug. 7. Ninety-eight pink flamingos now grace her lawn on Township Road to celebrate the nearly 98 years of an equally colorful life.

“She asked for flamingos,” said her daughter, Betsey Bartley. “That's what she wanted for her birthday.”

Mrs. Coulter was turning 95 in 2014, and upon her request, her children ordered the birds and arranged them on her lawn in the night, so that when Mrs. Coulter awoke and drew open her shades, the pink plastic birds were the first thing she saw.

Since then, the flamingos arrived for about a month every year around Mrs. Coulter’s birthday.

“They had to be moved everytime you mowed the lawn,” explained Ms. Bartley.

She explained that she is not sure if it has increased incrementally for each year in her mother’s life.

“That’s the way it’s supposed to be, so that’s the way we say it is,” she said.

Mrs. Coulter was born to Daniel Webster Quay and Bertha Bradt in 1919. She was the second oldest of seven siblings: Tad, then herself, Don, Bob, Jim, Richard, and Rose. Richard is the only surviving sibling, and now lives in Tennessee.

“She always did lots of things that she probably shouldn’t have,” said her daughter. “Because her brothers would dare her to do things.”

The family grew up poor, in the height of the Great Depression, and moved from farm to farm in the Hilltowns so her father could find work as a carpenter.

Mrs. Coulter graduated from Berne-Knox High School in 1938, the valedictorian of a class of 15 people.

“She used to take courses that only the boys were supposed to take,” said Ms. Bartley. “She said, ‘I’m going to show them that I’m as smart as any of the boys,’ and she did.”

She met Walter Coulter of Schenectady, at the Knox Roller Rink with her brothers. The two went on one of their first dates at the rink.

“My mother wasn’t a roller skater,” laughed Ms. Bartley. But Mr. Coulter was.

“He tried getting her out there; he let her go, and she ran into a wall,” she said. “She sat down, and he continued to skate.”

Ms. Bartley said it was probably a good thing that Mrs. Coulter’s favorite Bible verse is from Chapter 13 of Corinthians:  “Love is patient, love is kind.”

“So, apparently, that started early,” said her daughter, of the sentiment.

The two were married on Christmas Day in 1943, in a gown Mrs. Coulter made herself. It was her future sister-in-law who had suggested a Christmas wedding, said Ms. Bartley, in order to provide joy on Christmas for two families that both had members serving during World War II. They eventually moved to a farm in Knox and lived out there days there, often welcoming family to live with them in times of need.

An excellent seamstress, Mrs. Coulter would go on to sew the wedding dresses and bridesmaids’ dresses for her daughter’s wedding. When her children were growing up, she made them matching clothes.

“She loved doing that,” said her daughter.

When she was younger, Mrs. Coulter worked as a nanny in a home; and then at a state laboratory, sharpening needles and cleaning petri dishes; and then as a file clerk at General Electric.

She became a stay-at-home mother when she had her children — five of them. Her daughter said she found creative ways to keep them busy. She would take them on picnics on their 100 acres of land, or create scavenger hunts.

Mrs. Coulter always loved puzzles and games. When her grandchildren were young, she even tried to play ball with them.

She and her husband, who also worked as a mechanic for some time, would tend to the farm. They raised cows, pigs, and chickens, and harvested hay. Mrs. Coulter also kept a vegetable garden, and would freeze and can the produce.

Her daughter said Mrs. Coulter did not miss butchering the chickens, describing how she would have to dip them in hot water and pluck them after her husband killed them.

After her youngest child was in elementary school, Mrs. Coulter started work at the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. She was very intelligent and passed Civil Service tests easily, said her daughter, eventually becoming the principal file clerk and supervising others. She retired in 1981.

“She was a notary public and just last year she gave up being that,” said Ms. Bartley, since her eyesight was going. She also served on the town of Knox Board of Elections for many years.

She enjoyed gardening, often frustrating those hired to trim the lawn later in her life, because so many areas couldn’t be touched in order to keep her flowers safe. She like watching television, especially “The Lawrence Welk Show,” “Jeopardy,” and “Wheel of Fortune,” and she also enjoyed reading.

“She wouldn’t read a book just once,” said her daughter. “She could go back and read books over and over again.”

Her penchant for flamingos may have been in part from her love of birds. She especially enjoyed hummingbirds, and had a feeder she kept so she could watch them flit by.

She also could sing like a bird.

“She used to have a wonderful voice,” said her daughter. “A wonderful soprano voice.”

Mrs. Coulter would sing in the choir at the Knox Reformed Church, of which she was an active member. She would also sing in a performance called “The Knox Capers,” held at the church. She taught Sunday school and vacation Bible school, sometimes doing skits to teach children lessons as “The Weird Angel,” with her crooked halo.

The church was where Mrs. Coulter was baptised and was married, and it will be where her memorial service will be held.

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Mrs. Coulter is survived by her children, Jerry Coulter and his wife, Dina; Betsey Bartley; Jill Fassett and her husband, Edward; and Pam Izzo and her husband, Mike; her eight grandchildren, Noreen Hayden and her significant other, Mike Hayden; Tim Hoffman and his wife, Lisa; Tracie Coulter; Deb Diehl and her husband, Jeff; Joseph Bartley and his wife, Sarah; Jamey Bartley and his wife Julie; Matthew Fassett, and his wife, Nancy; and Andrew Fassett; and her six great-grandchildren, Emma, Benjamin, and Hannah Diehl; Silas and Micah Bartley; and Amanda Fassett.

Her husband, Walter Coulter, died before her; as did her daughter, Jean Coulter; and her parents, Daniel Webster Quay and Bertha Bradt.

A memorial service will be held at the Knox Reformed Church, at 6:30 p.m., on Monday, Aug. 7, 2017. Donations may be made to the Knox Reformed Church, 2175 Berne-Altamont Rd., Altamont, NY 12009.

— H. Rose Schneider