Vanessa Ann Folks, a longtime Coalinga educator, passed away on March 31, 2026, at age 70. She was born in Oklahoma in 1955 and moved to Coalinga, California, as a child.
She married George Folks in 1971 and was an active mother and volunteer before becoming a teacher and librarian for Coalinga Unified School District. Her teaching career spanned multiple states before she retired in 2017.
She is remembered as a devoted grandmother and educator, with services to be held in Paso Robles.