Willie High Coleman, Sr

Willie High Coleman, Sr., was born February 7, 1923 to Frank and Mattie Coleman. He was the youngest of 12 children. He gave his life to Christ at an early age at Friendship Baptist Church in Grand Cane, Louisiana. He attended church school at Friendship Baptist Church and completed the 7th grade.. He met the love of his life, Zula Marie Hughes, in April 1946 and they were married 3 months later and remained married until her death in 2015 (69 years). They moved to Houston in 1947 where he resided until his death. Willie was father to seven children, Robert, Lois, Mae, Joan, Kathryn, Willie, Jr. and Gregory. Lois, Joan and Kathryn preceded him to heaven. He was also preceded to heaven by his grandson, Kenneth King II. He is survived by his children, Robert, Mae, Willie, Jr. and Gregory, seven grand children, Damon, Joan (John), Emily (Raymond), Corey, Terrance (Stacy), Dadrian (Sophia) and Alexia (Jeremy), and 11 great grandchildren, Damon, Daniel, Jaiden, Mason, Dezavion, Addison, Jackson, Maddison, Julina, McKenzie and Robin. His first job at age 6 was to watch the smaller children while the older children and adults worked in the field. He later started working around the family farm doing whatever needed to be done or whatever he was told to do. At age 10 his primary job was to hitch the mules to the wagon for taking the crops to the mill. Dad started working for a living at age 12. He held several jobs during his life including at the shipyard in New Orleans during World War II after being turned down for admission into the military, the Foundry in Mansfield Louisiana where he rose to the highest laborer position before leaving Louisiana to move to Houston. He and his cousins Emerson and Evanuel left Louisiana and came to Houston together to improve their position in life. Other jobs that he held were at Grocers Supply and various other jobs, each one an attempt to work and take care of his family. He worked for 33 years at Armco Steel as the number 1 Millwright (mechanic) retiring in 1982. When the company closed down its Houston office he was the last employee to leave and he locked the gate on his way out. After retiring he started a side job scrapping metal. This part time job lasted for 36 years and ended (mostly) in March of this year. His total working period extended 85 years. Dad always said that he couldn’t sit on the porch and do nothing after his first retirement because he was afraid that if he stopped working that he would die. That statement proved to be prophetic. His motto about jobs and working was that you should try to be the best at whatever your job was and he usually was. His hobbies included fishing and hunting. He enjoyed sports and baseball was his favorite followed closely by basketball and football. He was a hometown fan generally, but the LA Dodgers were his favorite team because they hired Jackie Robinson and broke the color barrier. He often talked about how his family was one of the first to own a radio and when boxing matches came on the radio families of people would come from miles around and sit on the porch or in their mule driven wagons to listen to the fights. He was a great story teller and had a great memory which made him a great historian, He could remember names and dates and significant family, sports, local, state and national events with great accuracy. If you wanted to know something about someone or something all you needed to do was to ask him or sit long enough with him and he would just start talking. Dad loved singing and singing loved him. He started singing at age 10 and sang for the last time at Morning Star in February of this year. He sang with various quartets and quintets and his voice range extended from 1st tenor to baritone. He traveled throughout the country singing and extensively in Louisiana and Texas. He told stories of how churches would always bring up his group last because if they brought them up early then when they finished singing the church would be empty. He was offered an opportunity to sign a contract with a recording company in Detroit, but he turned down the opportunity when he was reminded by his wife that they had children to take care of. His signature song was My Life Is in His Hand, You Can’t Make Me Doubt It, I know Too Much About It.