Obituary of Margaret Ann Coleman

Margaret Ann Coleman is survived by her four grown children, Linda, Todd, Anne and Suzanne Coleman and her brother, David Abram. Margaret was born in Elyria Ohio. She grew up with her father, mother and younger brother, David, on the family farm in Medina County. When Margaret was in her late teens, her mother was diagnosed with ALS. Margaret became her caregiver as well as responsible for household and farm duties and for her brother’s care. Margaret lost her mother to ALS in 1955. That same year, she met (through mutual friends) and began dating Randolph (Ran) Coleman. They married in 1956 and remained together until Ran’s passing in 2017. Margaret and Ran began their married life in a small apartment in Athens, Ohio where Ran completed his college degree and Margaret gave birth the first of her four children. From that time, the family moved several times in pursuit of work and suitable living spaces to accommodate their growing family, finally landing in a small college town southwest of Cleveland, Ohio. While Margaret worked outside the home, she was primarily devoted to raising her children with free-range love and affection. She was a master planner when it came to running the household. Her lists of to-do’s, menus, and groceries were ubiquitous. In addition to general household management, Margaret sewed clothing for herself and her daughters, was active in her church, community and the politics of the 60’s and 70’s. She was progressive for the times and when she bucked the system, she did so with a sense of humor, once draping a school levy sign in black fabric to show her disappointment that it didn’t pass. Margaret was also the family handy(wo)man. She spearheaded house projects with the same careful planning and execution she employed in all her endeavors. She refinished, rewired and slipcovered. She knocked down walls and built decks. She decorated and redecorated with flair and style ahead of her time. In the mid-1960’s as her youngest settled into school, Margaret sought new ways to put her creativity and problem-solving abilities to use and found a perfect fit in the field of IT.She enrolled at the local community college and began learning mainframe computer programming. Margaret was offered a job before finishing the program and thus began a career that rewarded her attention to detail and challenged her with interesting problems to solve. Margaret enjoyed a long, successful career. When the children were grown and out of the house Margaret and Ran learned that an English Language program for business students at the local college was in need of housing for students. For the next decade, they hosted and acted as a second family to a steady stream of students primarily from South America and Japan. Margaret especially loved having interesting young people in their home and enjoyed learning about new customs and new foods. Many of the students stayed in touch for years after their stay to reminisce about the wonderful times they had there. In 1998, Ran and Margaret left the brutal winters of Northeast Ohio for the sun and warmth of Las Cruces, NM. In Las Cruces, Margaret brought her creative talents to their new home, crafting curtains, learning and cooking the local cuisine and enjoying the active arts scene. They lived there until 2016, when their kids helped them move to the Portland, OR to be close to daughter Anne and her husband, Aaron. Margaret died, peacefully, in her sleep the morning of November 19th just shy of her 85th birthday. She was loved and will be remembered as being strong, creative, caring, a bit stubborn, and for having a great, snarky sense of humor. She will be missed.