Oldest known WWI vet dies in Ohio at age 109

Only two World War I
veterans are left in the U.S.

TOLEDO (AP) — J. Russell Coffey, the oldest known surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, has died. He was 109.

Coffey, one of only three U.S. veterans known to survive from the “war to end all wars,” died Thursday, according to the nursing home where he had been living.

He died at the Briar Hill Health Campus in North Baltimore, where he had lived the past four or five years, said Gaye Boggs, nursing director.

His health began failing in October, and no cause of death has been determined, she said.

“We’re sure going to miss him,” Boggs said. “He was our most famous resident, that’s for sure.”

Coffey was the last World War I veteran in Ohio. Harry Richard Landis, 108, of Sun City Center, Fla., is now the oldest surviving U.S. veteran of the war. Also remaining is Frank Buckles, 106, of Charles Town, W.Va., according to the Veterans Affairs Department.

In addition, John Babcock of Spokane, Wash., 107, served in the Canadian army and is the last known Canadian veteran of the war.

Coffey’s stature grew over the past year as the few remaining American World War I veterans died, leaving him among the last three Americans surviving.

The last living links to the war, they received several honors and did a flurry of interviews this year.

Coffey was inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame in May. And Buckles rode in the back of a car in 2007 as a grand marshal of the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C.

Although Coffey never saw combat, he was one of more than 4.7 million Americans who joined the military from 1917 to 1918.

He enlisted in the Army while he was a student at Ohio State University in October 1918, a month before the Allied powers and Germany signed a cease-fire agreement.

He was in basic training when the war ended and discharged a month later.

His two older brothers fought overseas, and he was disappointed at the time that the war ended before he shipped out. But he told The Associated Press in April 2007: “I think I was good to get out of it.”

His interests were traveling, teaching and athletics, his daughter, Betty Jo Larsen, said in April.

Coffey once confided to her that he wished people would remember his contributions rather than his old age. “He told me ‘even a prune can get old,’” she said.

Larsen, who died in September, was his only child.

Born Sept. 1, 1898, Coffey played semipro baseball in Akron, earned a doctorate in education from New York University, taught in high school and college and reared a family.

He delivered newspapers as a youngster and would read the paper to immigrants, his daughter said. “That was the beginning of him being a teacher,” she said.

Coffey returned to Ohio State University after he left the Army and received two degrees from the school.

He taught junior high and high school in Phelps, Ky., and Findlay. He then taught physical education at Bowling Green State University from 1948 until 1969.

He said he loved teaching. “I could see results,” he said. “I could see improvement.”

Coffey also taught psychology and driver’s education during his career. He was a swimmer and credited healthful eating and exercise for his longevity.

He had a remarkable memory and was independent, his daughter said. He drove his car until he was 104, and lived in his own home until a year later.

His wife, Bernice, whom he married in 1921, died in 1993.

Services for Coffey will be held today, according to Smith-Crates Funeral Home in North Baltimore.