Chester Alvin Coleman

Chester Alvin Coleman, 83, of New London, died Friday, March 18, 2016, at Great River Medical Center, in West Burlington.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m., on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, at Elliott Chapel, in New London. Rev. Dan Dingus will officiate. Burial will be in Burge Cemetery, in New London, with military rites by the Henry County Honor Guard. Visitation began after noon on Monday, March 21, at the Chapel, with the family greeting friends from 5 to 7 p.m.

A memorial has been established to the Dover Museum, in New London.

Coleman was born on Sept. 12, 1932, in Stockport, the son of Bryan and Bertha Woodruff Coleman. He was a 1950 graduate of Bonaparte High School. On Jan. 14, 1951, he married Ila Giberson, in Mt. Pleasant. From 1952 to 1954, he served as a military policeman in the Army, stationed in Germany during the Korean War, and then served in the Army Reserves.

He farmed until moving to California in 1959 and worked as a carpenter. After returning to Iowa in 1966, he worked as a carpenter, in maintenance, and helped invent a rock tumbler/polisher. In 1975, he was hired on the start-up crew of the Mt. Pleasant Goodyear Plant, working with the plant self-management operation. He retired in March 1992.

Coleman is survived by his wife; two daughters, Joy (Mike) Davis, and Sherry (Arlo) Walljasper, both of New London; one son, Bryan (Deb) Coleman, of Letts; 17 grandchildren; 40 great-grandchildren; five great-great-grandchildren; and one sister, Ruth (Leland) Johnson, of Hillsboro.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, John and Dale; three sisters, Reba Judd, Iris Northrup, and Wanda McDowell; and one infant daughter, Ila.