Mrs. Nettie Coker was born Aug. 17, 1913, to Thomas Green Mason and Minnie Houston Mason in Etta, Mississippi. Nettie was born the fourth of eight children. She attended the Spring Hill Community School in Etta, the Rosenwald School in Holly Springs, and graduated from Mississippi Industrial High School of Holly Springs, in 1938. She attended Rust College to earn a teaching certification and began teaching in the fall of 1939 at the Rock Hill School in Etta.

She moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, in 1942 and was employed by the Armor Company. She married Mr. Richard Roy Coker, a U.S. Army veteran, in 1952. She returned to Etta, in 1969 to care for her elderly mother, who passed away in 1990 at the age of 101. She was a faithful member of Flint Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Etta, and helped to organize the Angel Choir, the Young Adult Choir, and the Youth in Action mentoring program for Sunday school.  She remained active in the church and served as a historian for the surrounding communities.

She was a pillar of strength and the possessor of immeasurable wisdom.  She informed her family a few days prior to her death about a conversation with God who confirmed that her earthly work was complete. She entered into eternal rest on Feb. 7, 2017, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford.   

She will be greatly missed by everyone who knew her.

Services will be on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017, at 1 p.m. at T.O.M.B. Association building in Oxford.  Visitation will be on Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, from 5-7 p.m. at Serenity Martin Funeral home in Oxford. Burial will follow at Flint Hill M.B. Church 244 Riverside Road, Etta.