George Howard Coleman Sr.

Family visitation will be from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Sunday, July 15 at Johnson’s Funeral Home. Funeral service will be 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 16 at First United Methodist Church of San Angelo with Reverend Nathaniel Hankins officiating. Interment will follow in the Miles Cemetery.

George Howard Coleman was born on the Coleman family farm, two miles north of Miles, on September 1, 1919. He was one of six children born to George Holman and Zephy Lee (Smithwick) Coleman. He grew up on the family farm where he learned the value of hard work and the importance of family. He attended Miles School until the eighth grade, when he mailed in fifty cents to Austin to receive his driver’s license. He then began to earn money hauling hay or milk as well as working on the family dairy farm. Although Howard never finished school, he enjoyed learning about people, places and things his entire life.

Howard was drafted into the U.S. Army in February of 1942. He did his basic training at Fort Roberts, California. He was then stationed at The Presidio and Angel Island for a year. On July 4, 1943, he sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge on the S.S. Wisconsin. Howard spent 28 months overseas serving as a military policeman attached to the 14th Corps Headquarters. He served on the Tonga Tabu, New Caledonia, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Luzon Island, The Philippines and Sendai, Honshu Island in Japan. After receiving his discharge in December of 1945, Howard returned home to Miles and always said that he had traveled as much as he wanted to for the rest of his life.

Howard married Eva Lucille Rumsey on October 18, 1946 at the Miles United Methodist Church. To this union two children were born, Carolyn LaRue, October 13, 1949, and George Howard, Jr., February 13, 1955. Howard and Lucille enjoyed over 65 years of marriage.

Howard started his own dairy farm, but was driven out of business by the drought of the 1950s. He drove milk trucks from 1956 until he became supervisor in 1961. The family then moved to San Angelo.

In 1971, Howard went to work for the Tom Green County Road and Bridge Department. He retired from Tom Green County in 1985. Howard and his son raised cattle on the family farm from the late 1960s through the early 1990s.

During his retirement, he helped raise his three grandchildren, Lara, Bekah and Luke, who were the joys of his existence.

While living in Miles, Howard was a member of the Miles Volunteer Fire Department and a member of the Miles City Council. Howard was a member of The Sons of Confederate Veterans, a Member Emeritus of the Tom Green County Historical Commission and a lifelong member of the Methodist Church.

Howard was preceded in death by his wife Lucille, parents George and Zephy, infant daughter LaRue, brothers Richard, Dawson and Dewey, and a sister Mabel Matthews. Survivors include a son, George Howard, Jr. and wife Fay; granddaughters Lara Coleman and Bekah Baxter and husband Grant; and grandson Luke Coleman. He is also survived by a sister, Kay Hagen and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family requests that in place of flowers, people contribute to the charity of their choice.