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John L. Coleman Dublin, GA QCWA # 35910 Chapter 221 |
John Lamar Coleman passed away peacefully on August 5, 2022, while surrounded by his family.
The first of five children and a graduate of Dublin High School, Class of 1960, he was a former employee of JP Stevens and Warner Robins Air Force Base. He retired from the Veterans Administration Hospital in Dublin, Georgia, as Supervisor of Maintenance. He always said the government had been good to a poor South Georgia boy.
Uncle Sam drafted him in 1964. After basic training at Fort Stewart, Georgia, he received Military Police training at Fort Riley, Kansas, and then served in Vietnam where he forged lifelong friendships in the Army Infantry's Big Red One Division.
In 1966 John was honorably discharged from active duty and served in the Army Reserves for two years. After returning from Vietnam, he entered into marriage with Gloria Belle, fathering three children; Wende C (Gene) Tolbert, and Gena C (Travis) Spivey of Dublin, GA; and Christopher (Tamara) Coleman of Long Beach, California. His children changed his name to "PaPa C" with the addition of the "Grandest of Grands" Jessica T (Thomas) Tanner, currently in Algona, Iowa; Nicole Tolbert and Samantha Spivey of Dublin, Georgia; and Alexander Coleman of Long Beach, California.
John's hobbies included riding the unpaved back roads of Georgia, fishing on the Oconee River with pals, and endless driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway in search of old steam engine trains and hit-or-miss tractors-all under the moniker of "Wild Goose Enterprises." During these adventures, he could be identified by his signature red suspenders and camouflage fedora.
But his favorite hobby by far was HAM radio. He received his Amateur Radio license in 1974 and remained active until the very end in several "nets" each day of the week under his call sign of WA4FRI. He loved to attend Ham Fests and Field Days until his health began to decline. He was proud he could still send and copy Morse Code. John's greatest accomplishment as a HAM was establishing with his wife Gloria (KK4GSX) the Sunday Night Peach State Intertie Christian Net. They hosted the Net for eleven years, missing only eight nets in that time.
John is preceded in death by parents Byron Coleman and Marie Estes Coleman; grandparents James Lamar and Omie Coleman, and Cornwell and Winnie Estes; and brothers Tennyson Coleman and Thomas Coleman.
Survivors who will continue and expand the legend include his wife of fifty-six years, his children and grand-children, his brother William (Lane) Coleman and sister Jean Coleman; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, as well as HAM and Army buddies.
Jason Coleman, Allen Coleman, Ashley Miller Sr., Lamar Mercer, Larry Wimberly, and Jeff Hall will serve as pallbearers. John Hamilton, Mack Bentley, Sam Rawlins and Ronald King will serve as honorary pallbearers.
Services will be held on Tuesday, August 9, 2022, at 2:00 PM in the Chapel of Townsend Brothers Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Dublin Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends one hour before the service at the funeral home. Rev. David Pohto and Rev. Phil West will officiate.
Published by Townsend Brothers Funeral Home - Dublin on Aug. 6, 2022.