Ethel M. Coulter

Ethel M Coulter, age 94, of Maryville, Tennessee and Dothan, Alabama passed away on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at The Terrace at Grove Park, Assisted Living Facility, Dothan, AL. Receiving of Friends will be Friday, July 15, 2016 from 5 PM till 7 PM at McCammon Ammons Click Funeral Home in Maryville, Tennessee. A graveside service will be held on Saturday, July 16, 2016 at 11 AM at Grandview Cemetery 2304 Tuckaleechee Pike Maryville, Tennessee. She was a long time member of First Baptist Church Maryville, TN. Mrs Coulter was born in rural Dayboro, Queensland, Australia on February 15, 1922 to the late John and Kate Bond and moved to Brisbane, Australia with her family when she was 9 years old. She finished school in Brisbane and was volunteering with the local hospital, where she met a young American Army Captain, Charles R Coulter, Jr, who was recuperating from wounds suffered at The Battle of Buna in New Guinea. They fell in love and married in 1943 while he continued to serve in the South Pacific. Ethel and daughter, Arlene, left Australia in March 1946 on an ocean liner with 750 other Australian war brides and their children bound for San Francisco and then on to Maryville, Tennessee to start a new life far away from the family and friends she was leaving behind in Australia. She would always say that the last view she had of Australia as the ship sailed out of Brisbane Harbor was the tops of the Glasshouse Mountains. She and Charles worked side by side, along with Kenneth, Phyllis and Helen Coulter, in the family business, Coulter's Florist and Greenhouses, as they continued to build a family and a business in Maryville, TN. Nancy Cheryl Coulter Long and Charles R (Todd) Coulter, III were both born in Maryville. It was 8 years before the family was able to travel back to Brisbane, Australia to see her parents, relatives and friends for the first time since sailing out of Brisbane Harbor in 1946. After Charles died in 2001, she finally decided to move in 2004 from the home they had built overlooking their beloved Smokey Mountains to live near her daughters in Dothan, AL. She was an avid supporter of Tennessee football and basketball, and anytime the VOLS were playing football in Neyland Stadium, she and Charles were always there to support them in snow, rain or sunshine, in the same seats they had occupied from 1946 until 2000. Even though she had to stop physically going to the games, she continued to follow her teams on TV. Nothing made her happier than the beginning of football season soon to be followed by basketball season. In addition to her parents, Mrs Coulter was preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Charles R Coulter, Jr., son, Charles R (Todd) Coulter, III, sisters Meg Bond Horan and Elsie Bond Broom, brother Jack Bond, and sister-in-laws, Phyllis Coulter and Helen Coulter. Survivors include her children, Arlene Coulter (Ralph) Hicks and Cheryl Coulter (Dave) Long, grandchildren, Dr David Scott (Kim) Long, Gregory Jason (Jan) Hicks, and Jeffrey Michael (Cameron) Hicks, great grandchildren, Ella Hicks, Cam Hicks, Charles (Charlie) Hicks, Ellison Hicks, Rachel Pope, Hannah Pope, Kaitlin (Paul) Werth, and Christopher (Becky) Chance, brother-in-law Kenneth Coulter, nephews Kenny (Ann) Coulter and Matt Horan, niece Pauline Graham, great nephews Brett (Maria) Coulter, Mark (Deb) Graham and Anthony (Margi) Graham, great nieces Karen Coulter, Kim Coulter, Kenna (Denny) Garner, Margaret (Tom) Gockel and numerous great-great nieces, nephews and great-great grandchildren in the US and Australia.