Dolores Virginia Coates Harrell, age 82, passed away Friday, August 22, 2025, at home surrounded by family.
Dolores was born in Leitchfield, KY, on December 1, 1942, to parents Rosaline Gideon Coates and Lawrence Coates. She graduated from Caneyville High School in 1961, later attended classes at Elizabethtown Community College, and married Carter in 1962. She began working at Vermont American in 1972 and retired after 32 years.
Dolores was a devoted member of Leitchfield United Methodist Church for 56 years. She loved gardening and spending time among her flowers. She also enjoyed feeding the birds and watching them from her kitchen table. Dolores loved traveling, making trips throughout the United States and around the world, creating many wonderful memories with her family. She was an avid reader, and tried to instill a love of reading in her children and grandchildren. She was also a devoted UK Basketball fan.
Dolores was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, and sister. She is survived by her devoted husband of 63 years, Carter D. Harrell, Sr.; three children: Debbie Wehner (Mike), Jackie Howard (Rick), and Carter D. Harrell, Jr. (Laura) and six grandchildren: Rachel Everley (Robert), Jarrod Nash (Emma), Trevor (Kaelyn) and Cooper Howard, Avery Elizabeth and Alex Carter Harrell and four great grandchildren. She is also survived by two brothers: Arnold and Ronald Coates, and three sister in laws: Barbara, Virgaline, and Jean Coates. She also had many nieces and nephews to whom she was like a second mother.
Other than her parents, she was proceeded in death by two brothers: Lawrence David Coates and Arthur Norman Coates, and four sister-in-laws: Florence and Dorothy Harrell, Anna Lou Fleener, and Juanita Hockemeier; and a step-daughter Melanie Harrell Howard.
The family would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to her special caregivers, whose compassion and care made her final days much more comfortable.
Funeral Services will be held at 1:00 pm Saturday, August 30, 2025 at Leitchfield United Methodist Church. Burial will follow at Leitchfield Memory Gardens.
Visitation will be held Friday, August 29, 2025 at Dermitt Funeral Home from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm and will move to the Leitchfield United Methodist Church on Saturday, August 30, 2025, from 9:00 am until time of services.
Expressions of sympathy may take the form of donations to Leitchfield United Methodist Church, Hosparus of Central KY, or the Grayson County Humane Society.
Online condolences can be made in the guestbook on our website at www.dermittfuneralhome.com.
