Robert Coleman

7/1/1927 — 6/12/2017

• Service Date: 7/1/2017

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An Honorable Life

He made his presence felt in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley as a husband and father, as a leader of Coleman Oil and as a participant in all kinds of organizations. He cared about family and about community. And he was a steward of nature.

Robert S. Coleman Sr. - 'most everyone called him Bob - was born July 1, 1927, in Tillamook, Ore., but spent his growing-up years in Walla Walla, the community that branded him, and his summers in Washtucna, Wash., where he worked on his uncle's farm. Walla Walla hosted his formal education - first in Walla Walla High School and then at Whitman College.

It was at Whitman that Bob met Shirley McCartney, with whom he fell in love. The feeling was mutual and when both had graduated, they married on July 30, 1950, in Spokane.

That's where they spent their first two years of married life and where Bob kept the books for a construction company owned by Shirley's father. Their daughter, Lynne, was born in Spokane in 1951.

The family left Spokane when an opportunity to work as a distributor for Standard Oil Co. of California (now Chevron) brought Bob, Shirley and Lynne to Craigmont in 1953. Their son, Bob Jr., was born in Cottonwood in 1954.

They moved again in 1959, when Standard Oil offered Bob the distributorship in Lewiston. Bob Jr. remembers that "Dad was very excited about the challenges of a larger, more diversified market."

But taking over the distributorship in the valley was no small challenge and the entire Coleman family got involved with what was to become Coleman Oil. Shirley, co-owner, wore many hats - credit manager, chief bookkeeper and co-visionary.

Lynne and Bob stuffed and sealed envelopes, filed documents and filled in where and when necessary during their growing-up days. "I still have my first paycheck from Dad," Bob remembers. "It was for $1, calculated by a penny-a-piece for loading 100 empty 55-gallon drums into a boxcar to return to Standard Oil for reconditioning and refilling." His mom, Shirley, said at the time: "The drums must have gone back very clean because all the dirt was on Bob's clothes."

From those early start-up days, with six employees, Coleman Oil grew to become a major presence in the valley. When Bob retired in 1992 and turned the reins over to Bob Jr., Coleman Oil had grown to some 60 employees.

There was, of course, more to Bob than Coleman Oil. He was active in community organizations and his church, he served on the board of First Bank, and his philanthropic support was far-reaching - from the Boys and Girls Clubs to individual scholarships at Lewis-Clark State College. Both Lynne and Bob emphasize that their dad was "a big believer in the power of learning." He also cared about the natural world - the family remembers, fondly, how he nurtured their forest property near Anatone. And there was his family. Says his granddaughter, Kaitlin, "Grandpa Bob's family was big. We were his family, Coleman Oil was his family, his community was his family."

A memorial service remembering the life of Robert S. Coleman Sr., will be held at noon Saturday at Malcom's Brower-Wann Funeral Home, 1711 18th St., Lewiston.

In lieu of flowers, family and friends are encouraged to make a donation to the LCSC Foundation, Fred and Katie Tautfest Scholarship Endowment. Checks can be mailed to the LCSC Foundation, 500 Eighth Ave., Lewiston, ID 83501.

Service Information

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Saturday, July 1, 12:00 PM

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