Memorials › Jack Alvin Coleman
Jack Alvin Coleman
13 Sep 1928 – 22 Feb 2016
| Birth | 13 Sep 1928 |
| Death | 22 Feb 2016 |
| Cemetery | Roselawn Park Cemetery Palestine , Anderson County , Texas , USA |
| Added by | Carol Anne Hoch on 15 Sep 2020 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/158520204 |
Bio
Life-long Palestine businessman, civic leader and tireless fundraiser, Alvin Coleman passed quietly away. Masonic graveside services will be at Roselawn Park with Rev. Bill Rodgers officiating with arrangements under the direction of Bailey & Foster. His life was a success story based on hard work and services to his fellowman. He was born to Jack Lee and Texie Mae Coleman in a sharecropper's house on the Miller Farm in northern Anderson County. His first home was a canvas covered cabin in an oilfield labor camp on Merrill's Lake along the Sabine River during the boom of the East Texas Oilfield. At the age of 5, he lost his father in an oilfield accident. For the next four years he and his two siblings were passed around among family as his mother struggled to provide for them until the young widow Coleman married the old farmer, Alfred Quick, of Elmwood. Alvin Coleman was educated in the two room Elmwood School and Montalba School. Starting as a teenager in 1941 and through the war years, he worked summertime jobs for K-Way Equipment painting oil storage tanks along the Texas Gulf Coast. In 1945, on his 17th birthday, with his mother's consent Alvin joined the US Navy,. He used his first Navy paycheck to buy a gasoline powered wringer washing machine for his mother. Seaman 1st Class Alvin Coleman served on-board the USS Duluth as a storekeeper. Following his military service, he took employment with a service station when an friend of the family sought to teach him to be an auto body repairman. He learned the trade and went on to work at several other establishments. Later he took a job as a roundhouse painter for Missouri-Pacific Railroad, when only a few months later, at the age of 23 the entreprneurial spirit of the times swept him up and the Palestine Body Shop was opened in February 1952. Through hard work and strong encouragement from his wife , friends and the business community he built a successful business and career until a disabling heart attack forced his retirement in 1984. His energy was always devoted to helping young people better themselves. Through all he did Alvin Coleman remained a supportive father and loving family man until his final breath. Family was always first. He was predeceased by his wife of 61 years, Carol and brother, Joe Richard Coleman. His children are Julia Mae Coleman of Las Vegas, Jane Biddle of Troup, Joe Stanley Coleman of Palestine and Jack Coleman of Grapeland. He leaves behind four grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. He is survived by siblings, Bobbie Jean Simons, Shirley Mae Williamson and Jimmy Quick.
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