Elsie R. McCoskery Wilcox - Helena Independent Record
Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, and it is what eventually took her life. Mom was born in 1920 to Fred and Laura McCoskery. She was supposed to be born on her brother Woody’s birthday, June 8, but fooled everybody when she arrived on April 1. What an April Fool’s Day prank that was. Mom grew up in Helena, going to many schools. She went to Bryant, Hawthorne and Central, eventually moving out of town to nearby Canyon Ferry. Mom always talked of when she and her brother, Woody, would ride their horses about two miles to school as young teenagers. The school is the same school that is in the Canyon Ferry Village today. Mom met a friend there, Jo (Sheriff) Cope, who became a very special person in her life. Also attending that same school was Jo’s brother, Van. Mom’s brother, Woody, and Van were the same age, two years older than Mom and Jo. All have passed away. Mom went through sixth grade before moving back to Helena, finishing grade school in town, at Hawthorne. Mom’s freshman year (1935), she went to the newly built Helena High School. Source: helenair.com
