Rotha Estella Trainor

Rotha Estella Trainor, 96, passed away March 21, 2021. She was born November 26, 1924 to John and Clare (Webb) Coon in Sylvania, Ohio.  She is preceded in death by her husband, William H. Trainor, siblings and their spouses, Elizabeth and Del Locke, Imogene and Ray Walters, Richard and Gerry Coon, Inez and Bob Wolff and Jack Coon, and niece Jackie Locke. She is survived by her son, Bill R. Trainor and wife Carolyn of Arizona, daughter Joyce Trainor-Toomey and husband Jeff of Espanola, brother Glenn Coon and wife Beverly of Arizona, grandchildren Daniel Trainor, Natalie Trainor, Joseph Trainor of Arizona, Jack Toomey and wife Teresa, and Jimmy Toomey of New Mexico,  great-grandchildren Nicholas, Mateo, Eleanor and Belle, and many nieces and nephews.

Rotha was child of the Depression with an adventurous and determined personality. She taught herself to weld so she could mend a broken slide trombone her dad accepted as payment for a tank of gas, which she proudly played in the Swanton High School marching band. She enlisted in the Women's Army Core in 1944 and served in Germany during the waning days of World War II. Her service in the WACs was the inspiration for the novel Burn Your Notes.

She returned to civilian life in Cleveland, Ohio, where she met and married William H Trainor, known as Big Bill. The two relocated many times during the ensuing years owning to Bill's work, living in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Nebraska, before settling in Tucson Arizona in 1970. Rotha began working for the Arizona State Department of Economic Security, from which she retired in 1984. A few years after Bill's passing, she relocated to Espanola to live with her daughter Joyce, where she has remained for the last 13 years.

Rotha and Bill were gracious hosts and welcomed strangers to their home for meals. Their large dining room table was the place where friends and relatives gathered for coffee Sundays after church or golf depending on your religion. Rotha was always out for adventure. She would load her family into the car, including Big Bill who never learned to drive, and explore the US coast to coast and border to border. In Arizona, she bought a motorcycle and was often seen cruising around town on it. After retirement, she took up hiking and explored many trails around Tucson, backpacked the Utah wilderness and rafted the Green River. An animal lover, the neighborhood dogs would gather outside her door in Espanola waiting for their morning dog biscuit, and a neighbor's peacock would visit most afternoons for a handful of seeds.

She will be greatly missed by her devoted Aussie Shepard, Dulce.

Services will be held in Tucson at a later date.

Remembrances in Rotha's honor may be made to Espanola Humane.