Celeste E. Shoemaker

Celeste E. Coil was born July 15, 1905, in Missouri, to parents Marcus H. Coil and Ada C. Kaufholtz. In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census for Springfield, Greene County, Missouri, Celeste is 4 years old, living with her parents, Marcus H., 40, and Ada C., 40, and older brother, Marcus H., 7, and younger brother, Paul I., one year and 7 months old. Her parents had been married 11 years. They were living at 1545 Irving Street , in a home they owned with a mortgage. Celeste's father, Marcus, was working as a laundryman in a laundry. By 1920, their family was living at 512 Madison Street, and Marcus was working as a jeweler at home on his own account.

Celeste attended Springfield High School, and was on the staff of The School Times, which was a voice for the student body of that school. The School Times advertised plays, carnivals, elections and contests, and it aspired to train students in journalistic writing. The School Times was a member of the Interscholastic Press Association and sent delegates to Madison, Wisconsin, and Columbia, Missouri, to attend the journalistic conventions there. According to the Springfield High School Yearbook, The Resume, Celeste was also in the Pep Club, Girl Reserves and Campfire in addition to being on The School Times Staff. There is a photo of her in the yearbook when she was 16 years old.

Another yearbook shows that Celeste was in the Girls' Literary Society, and the Girls' Literary Society had noticeable talent in acting, playing, speaking and writing. The yearbook states that "No group of girls in the entire school is more loyal to its club or will work harder for it than G.L.S."

A U.S. City Directory listing for the year 1928 showed that Celeste was working as a teacher and was living at 3233 Brooklyn Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri.

In the 1930 U.S. Federal Census for Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, Celeste was still living with her parents, Marcus, 55 years old, and Ada, 55 years old, Celeste was 23 years old, and her brothers were Paul, 21, and Marcus, 25. They were renting a home located at 3233 Brooklyn Street for $40.00 per month. Her parents had been married for 35 years, her father was born in Missouri and her mother in Texas, and her mother's parents were from Germany. Celeste's father was working as a salesman for the gas company.

Another directory listing for 1931 showed that Celeste was living at 1331 E. Linwood Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri, and was working as a cashier for the Dollar Profit Style Shop. In the same directory, her mother Ada is listed as the widow of Marcus, and Ada was living at the same address with Celeste. So it appears that Celeste's father passed away sometime between 1930 and 1931. In the 1933 and 1934 directory listings, Celeste is a saleswoman for a company called Nanette's in 1933 and in 1934 a saleswoman for the Helzberg Diamond Shop, and her mother Ada was still living with Celeste.

Celeste married William Lee Schoemaker on February 15, 1935, in Jackson County, Missouri. At the time she was 27 years old and William was 24 years old. They had two daughters, and their younger daughter was, Sylvia, born October 19, 1936. Sylvia was a well known psychic. According to a Wikipedia listing for Sylvia Browne, she grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and her father held several different jobs, working at times in mail delivery, in jewelry sales, and as a vice president of a major freight line. Sylvia was raised mostly a Catholic, and was said to have Jewish, Episcopalian, and Lutheran relatives. Browne claimed that she started seeing visions at the age of five, and that her grandmother, who claimed to be a psychic medium, helped her understand what they meant. Browne claimed her great-uncle was a psychic medium and was "rabid about UFOs".

Celeste Elizabeth Coil Shoemaker passed away on August 17, 1995, in Santa Clara County, California. Her last residence was in Campbell, California, and at one time she had been living at 3602 Lillick Drive, Apartment 5, in Santa Clara, but also lived in the Saratoga, Campbell, and San Jose areas of California as well.

Celeste and William's daughter Sylvia Shoemaker Browne, passed away November 20, 2013. She was an American author who described herself as a psychic and spiritual medium. She appeared regularly on television and radio, including the shows The Montel Williams Show and Larry King Live, and hosted an hour-long Internet radio show on Hay House Radio. She was the subject of frequent criticism for making psychic predictions that were later proven false, including predictions related to such missing persons as Shawn Hornbeck and Amanda Berry.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia listing for Sylvia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Browne