The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 53

BERNARD N. COE.

Bernard N. Coe is the oldest merchant in Grandview in length of connection with
the town. There were but four other stores when he established his business here
and all have passed out of existence. Mr. Coe has throughout the entire period
conducted a well appointed drug store, enlarging his stock in accordance with
the growth and development of the community and carrying a line of goods fully
equal to public demands, expressing the spirit of western enterprise in all that
he undertakes and does.

Mr. Coe is a native of Virginia. He was born at Falmouth, that state, on the
11th of October, 1857, a son of the Rev. William G. and Annie M. (Armstrong)
Coe, both of whom were natives of Baltimore, Maryland. The father was a son of
Alfred B. Coe and he, too, was born in Baltimore. The mother was a daughter of
James L. Armstrong, a native of New York. The Rev. William G. Coe was a minister
of a southern Methodist church and passed away in Virginia in 1877. His widow
long survived him, her death occurring in 1900.

Liberal educational opportunities were accorded Bernard N. Coe, who attended the
Washington and Lee University of Virginia and also the Randolph-Mason College.
He afterward prepared for his chosen life work by a course in the Maryland
College of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated with the class of 1881. He
served his apprenticeship with the firm of J. Brown Baxley & Son of Baltimore,
remaining in their establishment for eleven years. He afterward engaged in
clerking until he came to North Yakima in June, 1890, and he worked for several
of the old-time druggists of Yakima, including the firm of Allen & Chapman, also
Alexander D. Sloan and C. C. Case. He afterward was the owner of a drug store
at Cle Elum for eight months and on the 15th of January, 1907, he came to
Grandview and opened a drug store in a little frame shack. The town had been
established only the previous year. He has seen jack rabbits and coyotes come
right into the town. Sagebrush was all around and the conditions were those of a
wild western frontier. Today the town is situated in the midst of a fine orchard
and farming country and the work of progress and development has been carried
steadily forward until this is one of the most attractive sections of the
valley.

On the 18th of August, 1897, Mr. Coe was married to Miss Lela V. Baisley, who
was born at Baker, Oregon, a daughter of Samuel B. and Addie (Warfield) Baisley,
who removed to Oregon in 1866, making the overland trip. The father was a
rancher and mining man. To Mr. and Mrs. Coe were born two children but the elder
died in infancy. The surviving daughter, Marie, now seventeen years of age, is
at home. Mr. Coe is a member of the Modern Brotherhood of America, also of the
Elks lodge at Yakima and he attends the Presbyterian church. His political
endorsement is given to the democratic party and for one year he served as
deputy county clerk at Yakima. Otherwise he has never sought or filled public
offices, preferring to concentrate his energy and attention upon his business
affairs, which are wisely and carefully directed. Since opening his store in
Grandview his business has steadily increased with the growth of the community
and he has an establishment which is well appointed in every particular, while
his thoroughly reliable business methods have secured for him the confidence and
liberal support of the public.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.