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Birth name
Margery Margie Ann Doney
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Place of Birth
Washington, US
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Place of Death
Florida, US
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Burial Place
Gotha, FL
When Margery Margie Ann Doney (Basten Coley) was born on December 11, 1932, in Centralia, Washington, her father, Leon, was 23, and her mother, Julia, was 20. She married Donald A. Basten on November 16, 1951, in Alaska. They had four children during their marriage. She died on September 20, 2003, in Orange, Florida, at the age of 70, and was buried in Gotha, Florida.
From the records
Her Social Security Numident entry, seen in a transcription on SortedByName.com, lists her as Margie Ann Doney, born December 11, 1932, in Centralia, Washington, the state where her number was issued, and later as Margie Ann Basten and Margie Ann Coley. It names her parents as Wilson W. Doney and Julia Mocan, and it records her death on September 20, 2003.
A newspaper clipping kept in the family’s scrapbook reports her wedding to Sgt. Donald Basten on Friday evening, November 16, in a Catholic double-ring ceremony at the chapel on Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. It names her as the daughter of Mrs. Leon Stacy of Centralia and Wilson Doney of Anchorage, says that her father gave her in marriage, and says she had graduated from Centralia High School, moved to Alaska, and worked for six months in the district engineer’s office at Elmendorf. The clipping prints no year. The family tree gives 1951, and November 16 did fall on a Friday that year, but a matching weekday does not establish the year, and no independent record of it has been found yet. Two details in the clipping narrow the range: Donald had entered the service in 1948, and Limestone Air Force Base, where he was being transferred, kept that name only until October 1, 1954. Between those dates November 16 fell on a Friday only in 1951. That makes 1951 likely, but it is still reasoning, not a record of the date (added October 23, 2026).
Her father’s name. The paragraph at the top of this page, written from the family tree, calls her father Leon. Her Social Security record and the wedding clipping both name him as Wilson Doney, which fits the tree’s link to Wesley Wilson Doney; Leon Earl Stacy was her mother’s husband by the time of the wedding. Her burial in Gotha, Florida, has not been confirmed.
Corrected October 2026. The dates at the top of this page showed October 10, 2000, as the date of death. They now show September 20, 2003, the date already given in the paragraph at the top of this page and in her Social Security Numident entry. That entry matches her on all three surnames, her parents’ names and her exact birth date and place; it was read in transcription, and her death certificate has not been seen.
Sources for the records above
- Third-party transcription of a federal index. U.S. Social Security Numident file (National Archives public release), entry for Margie A. Coley, also known as Margie Ann Doney and Margie Ann Basten, as transcribed by SortedByName.com. Open the transcription. A transcription of a federal index, not the original application.
- Original newspaper clipping, undated. “Centralia Girl Married in Military Rites in Alaska,” newspaper clipping in a family scrapbook; the newspaper’s name and the date are not shown on the clipping. View the clipping (it is also among the photographs on Julia Mocan’s page). Read October 22, 2026.
- Background. “Namesakes: Charles Loring”, Air & Space Forces Magazine, November 29, 2018, fact box: Limestone Air Force Base renamed Loring Air Force Base on October 1, 1954. Read the article. Accessed October 23, 2026.
All sources accessed October 22, 2026, except where noted.
Family research reference
View this person in Tyson R. Mosby’s Ancestry family tree (exported October 18, 2026). This reference supplements the biography and family memories preserved above. Ancestry tree entries are family research; conflicting details remain subject to review.