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Labor mourns the loss of Robert and Connie Coleman

Berry Craig
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BY BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360 

COVID-19 has claimed the lives of Paducah’s longest-serving elected city official and his community-activist wife of 48 years.

“Robert and Connie Coleman truly loved Paducah,” said J.W. Cleary, president of the Paducah-McCracken County NAACP, of which the Colemans were longtime members.

“It was a joint-type situation,” Cleary added. “They believed that to go forward we all have to work together, black and white.” 

The couple died ten days apart; she, first. Robert Coleman was 88; Connie Coleman, 83. 

Paducah’s second African American city commissioner, he served on the panel for 31 years.

"I had the honor of serving on the Paducah City Commission with Robert Coleman," said Gerald Watkins, also a former state representative. "He was my mentor,  and we worked very closely together to do some great things for Paducah. Paducah is better because of Robert Coleman," and I am a better person because of my friend of over 35 years. 

"He will be missed."

Coleman was also a veteran trade unionist who carried a National Association of Letter Carriers card in his wallet for 59 years as an active and retired member.

Coleman joined the post office in 1961 and retired in 1998. Coleman chaired NALC’s national scholarship program, as well as the state affiliate’s executive board. 

He saw the union and civil rights movements as natural allies. “He had the philosophy that the NAACP and labor went hand-in -hand,” said Cleary, a retired member of Steelworkers Local 550.

Jeff Wiggins, state AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, remembered when Coleman was a recipient of the W.C. Young Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council. “No one was more deserving of the award than Robert Coleman,” said Wiggins, a former council president.

Young, a national labor and civil rights leader, was Coleman’s cousin. Wiggins, from Reidland,  was president of the council before his election to the state post.

Wiggins and Coleman met when Coleman delivered mail to the Wiggins household.  “It was fantastic to talk to him at the mailbox.” Wiggins said.

Wiggins also recalled when Coleman was named grand marshal of Paducah’s Labor Day parade. The honor came with a magnetic sign for his car. 

“He was so proud that he kept it on his car for a year,” Wiggins said.

Wiggins worked with Connie Coleman on the board of directors of the Jackson House-W. B. Sanders Retirement Center. The two facilities were union-built and are union-managed.

“Connie did a wonderful job,” said Wiggins, board vice president. “She loved the Jackson House and the Sanders Center and all our residents.”

Board member Cleary agreed. “She encouraged me to come on the board, and the board loved her so much that they allowed her to pick her successor, Carol Young, W. C.’s widow.”

But the board named Coleman a member emeritus so that she could still be part of its activities. 

Connie Coleman was an LPN for 50 years. In 2005, her spouse was named to the Kentucky Human Rights Commission Hall of Fame. In addition, the city’s Blackburn Park was re-named Robert Coleman Park.

State AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan, said he was honored to know both Colemans "through the Jackson House/Sanders Retirement Center Board of Directors, Paducah City Council and their community and civil rights engagement."

Added Londrigan, also a board member: "They were truly two of the kindest, committed and caring people I have known.  Their support for workers and their unions endeared them to my fellow trade unionists and workers across West Kentucky.  They will be missed yet always loved and appreciated.”