Christine Sadler Coe Papers

Ella Dillian Christine Sadler Coe (1902-1995), daughter of Francis (Fannie) Williams and Philip Edley Sadler, was born on 7 April 1902 in Silver Point, Tennessee. She attended Livingston Academy, Milligan College, and George Peabody College for Teachers where she received a BS degree in 1927. She went on to earn a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1937. She began her career in journalism as a reporter for The Nashville Banner where she worked from 1930-1936. She moved on to be a reporter for the Washington Post where she worked as a reporter, national news bureau staffer, and Sunday Editor from 1937-1946. Coe served as the Washington Editor of McCall’s Magazine from 1944 until her retirement in 1971, and contributed to Canadian and British publications, notably The Montreal Standard. She was the author of two books - America’s First Ladies (1963) and Children in the White House (1967) and personally knew all the First Ladies from Eleanor Roosevelt to Betty Ford and many of their children. She was elected to the George Peabody College Board of Trust in May 1968, and she was on the board at the time of the historic merger of Peabody with Vanderbilt University in 1979. She served as the president of the Women’s National Press Club (now the Washington Press Club) from 1942-43 and as chairman of its 50th Anniversary Committee in 1970. She was also a member of the American Newspaper Women’s Club; an honorary member of Theta Sigma Phi; and a member of National Women’s Democratic Club. Coe died in Washington D.C. on 25 June 1983.