SPEARFISH | Elizabeth Fern (Madison) Coolley, 90, died August 30, 2016.

Elizabeth was born to Walter Leon and Marquette (McFarling) Madison on April 8, 1926 in Pierre, SD.

She went to school all 12 years and graduated from Pierre High School in 1944. She taught school in Lyman County for two years, then taught at the Gray Goose School east of Pierre.

On April 6, 1945, she married the love of her life, Charles Bernard Coolley. They made their home in Pierre until they moved to Lead where her husband worked for the Homestake Gold Mild. In September of 1947, they bought a home and moved to Terraville, SD. It wasn't long after that that the Terraville Post Office was in need of a new post master, and Elizabeth took the job for the next 30 years until Homestake bought out the remaining 38 homes of Terraville. They then went in search of their new home and found one that they bought south of the airport in Spearfish.

Her hobbies were raising birds of all kinds and gardening, until it got too hard. She also enjoyed sewing and quilting.

Elizabeth is survived by her two sons, Charles "Leon" (Marilyn), Spearfish, and Steve (Jackie), Dewey, OK; one daughter, Dianna Stroh, Hot Springs; one son-in-law, George Austin, one brother, Don Madison; three sisters, June Wood, Pearl Risinger, and Ruth Spicer; 11 grandchildren; and 17 great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Bernard Coolley; her parents, Walter and Marquette Madison; her daughter, Sharon Austin; one sister, Geraldine Stroh; and one brother, Leslie Madison.

A celebration of life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday September 4, 2016 at First Baptist Church of the Northern Hills in Deadwood with Rev. Pat McBride officiating. An inurnment will take place at a later date at Rosehill Cemetery in Spearfish.