Who was William Curtis Coffman?

The Mary Baker Eddy Library has received a number of questions about “Memoirs of a Christian Scientist,” a reminiscence by William Curtis Coffman (1878–1961). What makes it different from many of the reminiscences in our collection is that—while it contains statements by and anecdotes about Mary Baker Eddy—he never met or corresponded with her. 

Coffman (spelled “Kaufman” until 1918) was born in Buffalo, New York, and eventually moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, where he attended Lawrence College. He joined The Mother Church (The First Church of Christ, Scientist) on June 11, 1901, and took Christian Science Primary class instruction with Victoria Sargent in August 1902. ¹ (Both Victoria and her sister, Laura, had studied with Eddy in the 1880s.) 

In 1904 Coffman was asked by several Christian Scientists to come to Great Falls, Montana, to become one of the charter (founding) members of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Great Falls. He served that church in several capacities, including First Reader and Sunday School superintendent.² In May 1905 he became a Christian Science practitioner listed in The Christian Science Journal and maintained a public healing practice for the rest of his life. 

In 1907 Coffman was appointed the Christian Science Committee on Publication for the State of Montana. He remained in that public affairs position until 1919.³ Later he recalled the significance of that work: 

The public practice of Christian Science and the service as First Reader developed me spiritually, but the work of the Christian Science Committee on Publication broadened my thought in a practical way. This experience was particularly helpful to me, because I was only twenty-three when I entered the practice of Christian Science, and I had much to learn in human experience, and this work supplied this experience. For a long time I made yearly trips to Boston. This enabled me to meet practically all the Christian Science workers. They called me “The boy.”⁴ 

During this time Coffman was also instrumental in helping to establish other Christian Science branch churches throughout Montana, including in Kalispell, Livingston, Lewiston, Miles City, and Whitefish. Hiram F. Johnson, a local Christian Scientist, called him “one of the principal factors in shaping the history of Christian Science in Montana” and noted that “through his consecrated labors, the Cause of Christian Science was put on its feet in our State.”⁵ 

In 1919 Coffman married Adah Grace Sprung (1894–1986). Originally from British Columbia, Canada, she was also a student of Victoria Sargent. They moved to San Francisco in 1925 with Claribell and William Jr., their two children. Coffman said the move was necessary because “the cause [of Christian Science] was established in Montana” and he felt he “could be of greater service in a larger field.”⁶ From 1939 to 1942, he served as a Christian Science chaplain at San Quentin Prison.⁷   

Coffman completed his “Memoirs of a Christian Scientist” in 1955. The introduction offered his reasoning about the anecdotes and accounts of Eddy that appear in its pages:

 …I decided that if what I had to say would be of value, in the years to come, the Memoirs would have to dwell upon the substance of what was taught me by those close to Mary Baker Eddy: as well as the actual application of her own teachings in my life. 

Accordingly, then, you will note that in these pages you will not find too many of the familiar things of everyday life, but a great deal about the spiritual forces that governed and ruled the lives of the earlier Christian Scientists, as these men and women came into contact with me, and influenced my own spiritual awareness….⁸ 

In particular, Coffman claimed to have heard many anecdotes about Eddy from the Sargents and others who knew her well. However, the secondhand nature of his statements makes some difficult to authenticate. 

Coffman died in San Francisco on December 31, 1961. The following week, the executive board of Ninth Church of Christ, Scientist, San Francisco—where the Coffmans were members—expressed their admiration in a letter to his wife: 

We want you to know that we are with you in spirit in these days of adjustment, and that we are sending you much love. 

 

You and our beloved friend and fellow worker, William Coffman, have been such bulwarks of strength and wisdom from the early days of Ninth Church to the present hour, that it will be difficult to think of him as not being in his accustomed seat at all the services in the future. But we know that any work that has been so much a part of his mind and heart for so many years here, will be still close to his thought always, and we shall surely feel the blessing of that thought always. ⁹ 

Coffman published three articles in the Christian Science Sentinel: “Spirituality” (31 July 1937), “Sin Can Be Destroyed” (14 April 1945), and “Treat Yourself Daily” (6 March 1948).