Charley Lee Coe
Burkburnett, Wichita County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On February 6, 1923, Charley Lee Coe made a great sacrifice. Charley was an oil field driller and lived with his wife, Helen (Rosencrants), and three children in Newtown and then in Burkburnett. On the day he was to take his daughter to the Wichita County Fair, Coe saw a fire at a neighbor's house. Coe worked his way through the smoke-filled home and found Arnold and David Hahn (ages 3 and 1) trapped in a bedroom. A neighbor knocked out a door panel through which Arnold Hahn was saved. Flames then overtook the home and claimed the lives of Coe and David Hahn. In January 1924, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission established a pension for Coe's family and awarded him a posthumous Carnegie Gold Medal for his brave actions. (2012)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Charley Lee Coe was an oil-field driller in the Burkburnett boom country, living with his wife and three children in early 1923. On a morning he had planned to take his daughter to the county fair, he saw a neighbor's house ablaze and pushed through the smoke to reach two small boys trapped in a bedroom. One child was pulled to safety through a knocked-out door panel, but the flames overtook Coe and the younger boy. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission awarded him a posthumous Gold Medal and a pension for his family.
Why it matters
Coe's sacrifice marks both the human cost of the North Texas oil-boom towns and the Carnegie Commission's mission to honor Americans who gave their lives for strangers.
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Related people
- · Charley Lee Coe
- · Helen Rosencrants Coe
- · Arnold Hahn
- · David Hahn
Themes & tags
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