WINDOWS TO THE SOUL
Cofer ' s work for the former Wapello County Historical Society — now the Iowa Heartland History Connection — encapsulated what he would do . He was always good with his hands , strengthened by milking dairy cows in his youth , and that continued right out of the box after retirement .
" So a good friend got me on the board at the historical museum , and the first project we did there , I think it had 50-some windows in that old building , some of them weren ' t even closed ," Cofer said . " We covered two-thirds of them on the outside with a fiberglass board , and then we went inside and put in insulation , put a frame in there and sheet rock .
" The walls were so thick it still left room for artifacts and stuff like that ."
Soon after , he and others began building in the Amtrak Depot a miniature replica of the famed Coal Palace , which existed in the 1890s and was visited by President Benjamin Harrison and future President William McKinley .
" I put in many , many hours on that ," he said . " I actually sawed little pieces of black rock with a bandsaw to make it look like coal , and it was glued on . The coal palaces were a big deal in the 1800s . The one here was only supposed to be open a year , but it was so popular ."
TAKING FLIGHT
It turned out that 300 photos the museum possessed from NAS Ottumwa would be the driver of two ambitious people .
First , Cofer ' s wife Elsie Mae , who died in January 2023 , penned the book , " Carrier On the Prairie ," that recounted the rich history of NAS Ottumwa between 1943-47 , and included among its service members former President Richard Nixon , former astronaut Scott Carpenter and the U . S . Navy ' s first Black pilot , Jesse L . Brown .
Cofer still gives his wife credit for introducing him to the history of the station , and giving him a reason to continue with a renovation process that has lasted at least a decade .
" She wrote that book in 1996 , and we had a reunion in 2012 , and a couple of guys came to me carrying her book and said , ' You know we ought to restore this building ,'" he said . " So it took a screwdriver to get in , the front entryway was all rotted out .
PROVIDED BY LARRY COFER Larry Cofer and his wife , Elsie Mae , were key to the renovations of Naval Air Station Ottumwa . Elsie Mae wrote the book , “ Carrier On the Prairie ,” which used extensive research of the air station from 1943-47 , and Larry continued to contribute his time to renovations of the station . Elsie Mae died in December 2023 .
" There was no question in my mind it would have never happened if it wasn ' t for her book ," Cofer said . " I think a part of it in my case is just her legacy in a way . Because I love that woman , and she was so smart ."
But Cofer found himself stepping away when he didn ' t think the restoration was going anywhere . He then jumped back in five years later and is now starting to remove himself from the project as the renovation nears completion .
" I think my part is pretty well done , you know , as far as the physical ( part ), anyway ," he said .
OTHER ENDEAVORS
With his work restoring NAS Ottumwa as a consistent undercurrent , Cofer dove into other projects , namely the building of a playground in Sycamore Park , as well as perhaps his other project love — the Wabash Railroad Pedestrian Bridge .
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