Janeth Zebedee Coates was born in North Carolina on January 18, 1915. He joined the United States Army in 1941 and attended the Army Air Forces Basic Flying School in Pecos, Texas. In August 1944, he arrived in Assam, India, where he serviced planes traveling between India and China until October 1945. His brother, J. P. Coates, also served in the Pacific Theater during the war. Janeth Coates married Cecil Marie Brannon (1925-1991) in the summer of 1944 and had several children, including Janeth Zebedee Coates, Jr. (1947-2011). The elder Janeth Coates died in Dallas Texas, on December 14, 1998.
From the guide to the Janeth Coates papers, Coates, Janeth papers, 1942-1945, 1944-1945, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
