Coates was born in the small Southern Virgina town of South Boston, her mother was a cosmetologist and her father was a County Investigator who later became an engineer with a local electrical transformer manufacturing company.
Coates was born in the small Southern Virgina town of South Boston to Thomas Dickerson Coates, and Ida Francis Tuck-Coates. Her mother was a cosmetologist and her father was a County Investigator who later became an engineer with a local electrical transformer manufacturing company.