Orpha Isabell Coats, 100, daughter of Wilson Layfette "Fate" Coats and Mary Alice Burch Coats, was born March 12, 1906. She died Oct. 29, 2006, at Houston House Nursing Center after a long illness. She grew up in the Clara community, commonly called the High Town area. She married John Ervey Bridges July 4, 1925. They had one daughter. During their 55-year marriage, they lived on a farm near Raymondville. Mrs. Bridges raised a big garden, mowed her own yard and drove her car until her health began to fail at age 95. She still continued to cook and bake for family and friends. She loved to sew, oil paint, quilt and crochet until her eyesight failed. She was saved at an early age and taught Sunday school for more than 60 years, first at Central Baptist Church and later at First Baptist in Houston. Her soprano voice was called on to sing "Star of the East" at church Christmas programs. In the '40s and '50s, she sang with a quarter with Mildred Daniel, Churchill Wallace and Robert Brown. The group traveled to other churches and was accompanied on the piano by Mrs. Bridges' daughter. She began teaching school at age 16. Her career included Arthur's Creek, Bear Creek, Union and Barnum. She also worked at Ellis Store in Houston and sold insurance for a number of years. She was preceded in death by her husband in 1980; a grandson in 1999; five brothers and three sisters. Two of the sisters lived to be 101 and 99. Surviving are her daughter, LaVesta Brallier of Houston, four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren. Services were Nov. 1 at the Evans Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Kendall Ford and the Rev. Harold Smith officiating. Burial was in the Pine Lawn Cemetery.