Thomas Edward “Ed” Coleman, age 94, of Flora, Illinois, passed away Friday, October 24, 2025, in Effingham, IL.

      Ed was the son of Noah Jerome “Pete” Coleman and Naomi Ruth Coleman born on September 12, 1931. He was raised in DuQuoin, IL with his brothers Bill Coleman and Don Coleman. DuQuoin is where Ed met the love of his life, Joan Emling Coleman. They were high school sweethearts that married June 28, 1953, and celebrated 69 wonderful years of marriage together.

      While in high school at DuQuoin High School Ed excelled in baseball which led him to play baseball in college at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale as a Saluki. Ed was the 2nd baseman on the team from 1949-1952. Ed lettered all 4 years at SIUC and played in every game, except for one, during his time as a Saluki. Upon graduating college, Ed was recruited to play with a minor league organization, but the government was also recruiting young men to serve in the military in the Korean Conflict. Ed enlisted in the U.S. Army and served 4 years at Fort Bragg and then also served in Korea.

      Upon returning from his military service, Ed and Joan started their family in DuQuoin with the birth of son Jim. The family then moved to Paris, IL where Ed was a teacher, coach, athletic director and principal at Memorial Grade School and Paris High School. During this time, Ed and Joan lovingly added to their family with Mark Coleman and Amy Coleman Herdes. During their time in Paris, Ed and Joan also ran the Surf Club with their sons during the summer months. During Ed’s coaching years, many nights were spent with his family in the stands watching him coach his teams.

      In the summer of 1975, the family of 5 moved to Flora where Ed was hired to be the Flora High School principal. Ed was blessed to serve within the Flora School District as both a principal and then Assistant Superintendent until his retirement. He often spoke of the undertaking of helping rebuild the Flora High School after the fire. He spent many nights at sporting events, most notably the Wolves Basketball games where he announced and created many special friendships with those who kept the books and scores for the teams. Even until the end, Ed would talk about being a teacher, administrator, memories from his time in education and the vast changes in the education system. He truly was an administrator for life and appreciated the many relationships he developed with students, parents, faculty and staff over the years. He always enjoyed hearing when people that remembered him from school would ask how he was doing.