07/30/2024
I looked back to my archives to see if I could find the date I first met Marilyn June Coffey. I remember the meeting itself, but not the exact date in 2009. My business was 5 years old, and I had recently moved into a real office rather than having meetings at Java n'Ice in Rockbrook. Her laughter perfumed the office with joy, and I was amazed at her energy at 72 years old. She was a dynamic force of nature--never static for a moment.
Her first book, "Marcella," was published in 1973 and was a NYT Bestseller (the real kind, not the purchased ones of today). Gloria Steinem reviewed it, and the novel was heralded across the US and the UK. It was the first American novel that dealt with issues not talked about in public—female autoeroticism, religion, teen su***de ideation, and sexual abuse.
I met her when she was ready to publish Mail-Order Kid: An Orphan Train Rider's Story. It's a heart-wrenching story of a toddler orphan who was sent to the Midwest with thousands of other children from overrun orphanages in New York and other eastern states in the 1910s. Rider Teresa May survived harrowing abuse at the hands of her adoptive German family and escaped with her life. She became a librarian in Hays, Kansas. Marilyn interviewed and researched for 10 years to write it. If you read the novel "Orphan Train," this is the non-fiction story of one of these children. Teresa May is memorialized by a statue at the Library in Concordia, Kansas, the city that houses the National Orphan Train Complex.
Over the years, we published more books with Marilyn, including the 40th-anniversary edition of "Marcella" and the other books Marilyn had previously published traditionally for which we regained her rights. Marilyn had a gift for writing, and she worked hard to perfect her craft. We had the honor of helping her launch 16 books, with her second-to-last one just going to press last week, and the final book awaiting a cover illustration.
Rest in Peace, Marilyn.
