Mabel Alvera Evans Coaxum, the third of three children, born to William Henry Evans, Jr. and Susan Rachel Cooper Evans, was born April 15, 1919 in Cordesville, South Carolina.  She went to see her heavenly Father on May 30, 2017.

Mabel attended elementary school in Cordesville, SC and high school through the tenth grade at Berkeley Training High School, Moncks Corner, SC.  She completed the eleventh and twelfth grades at Avery Normal School, Charleston, SC, where she stayed an additional year to finish the teacher training program that the school offered to aspiring black teachers.  She earned her degree in education from Virginia State in 1953 and her Master Degree in Early Childhood Education in 1956 from Columbia University in New York. She began her 42 year teaching career in St. George, SC, where she taught fourth grade.  She was later employed with the Charleston County School District. She taught at A.B. Rhett Elementary School until it was converted to a middle school. She then transferred to Sanders Clyde Elementary School where she stayed until her retirement in 1981.  Mabel loved educating young people and loved gardening.

Mabel was a member of Greater Emanuel AME Church in Cordesville, SC, where she served as the President of the Women's Missionary Society (WMS) for a number of years. The WMS was later named partly in her honor as the Mabel Coaxum and Annie Lloyd Women's Missionary Society.  She was also a lifelong member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and was one of  the charter members of Gamma Zeta Chapter, Zeta Phi Beta, Sorority, Inc. in Charleston, SC. She also was a member of  the South Carolina Retired Teachers Association and the South Carolina Educators Association.

On August 23, 1958, she was united in holy matrimony to Chief Petty Officer Jack Coaxum who preceded her in death.

Mabel was preceded in death by her siblings,  Lavinia Donnelly Evans and Roscoe C. Evans.

Mabel leaves to cherish her precious memories, a son Mr. Jackie I. Coaxum, Sr. of the home; a daughter,Mrs. Gina (Silas) Benton of North Charleston, SC; seven grandchildren Gerusha Coaxum, Jackie I. Coaxum, Jr., Samone Coaxum, Cameron J. Benton, Alexis M. Benton, Kierra Coaxum and Zeirra Coaxum; four great-grandchildren; special cousins Bertha Roper Davis and Wilford Hamilton; and a host of cousins and friends.

The family gives special thanks to her caregivers, Ms. Daisy Sorrell, Ms. Shanta Weathers, Mrs. Laverta Middleton and Lutheran Hospice of Charleston for the love and care they provided during Mabel's illness.