In Memoriam: Annie B. Coleman

The executive assistant to seven Washington College presidents, Coleman was named an honorary alumna at her 2016 retirement in recognition of 33 years of dedicated service. She died June 20 at the age of 74. 

Annie Coleman and her husband, Elmer Dudley Coleman, pose for the camera during a ship tour. | Photo courtesy of Laura Johnstone Wilson

Talking to people who worked with Annie Coleman, at some point in the conversation they are likely to mention how quick she was to tear up and how often she would become misty eyed. It was something that prompted good-natured teasing, but it was also evidence of a central part of Coleman’s identity that drove so much of her life and success.

“It was a daily occurrence, almost. She just took things to heart. It was empathy,” said Laura Johnstone Wilson, who worked with Coleman for 21 years in Bunting Hall. “It was not always sad. It was probably more joy than sadness.”

For retiring colleagues, for family, for her sons’ friends, for her fellow Chestertown High School alumni, and for many more, Coleman cared for everyone in her community. That community was both hyper-local—Chestertown, Washington College, and Kent County—and expansive, in that she included everyone tied to those touchstones.

Coleman displayed her intense caring through tears, but she also showed it in the way she interacted with people, whether being the person who kept her high school class connected or becoming a trusted resource for members of the Board of Visitors and Governors.

“She knew their likes and dislikes because she took the time to get to know them and to understand them. She was able to develop those relationships,” said Bruce Alexander ’94 M ’00, who grew up with Coleman’s sons and worked with her for 10 years in the president’s office. “She was so much more than the president’s secretary, and people definitely knew it. She never portrayed herself that way, but everybody knew. She stayed under the radar. That was just her style and how she operated.”

Coleman’s interest in others made her a connector and a source of institutional knowledge and memory whom others relied on. It also made her a particularly effective teacher, whether in gently correcting grammar or conveying the importance of giving one’s full effort to every job. Every document that left the president’s office, whether correspondence, proposals, or annual reports, first went through exacting copyediting by Coleman, who had high standards for the work because of her desire to see Washington College held in high regard.

“For administrative professionals, Annie set the standard and the pace. There was tremendous respect for her among her colleagues. I think they tried to emulate her example,” said Joe Holt, who served as chief of staff for five presidents over 25 years, all of them with Coleman. “Annie is one of a handful of people, and a handful is exaggerating, maybe two or three people for whom I never heard anybody on campus have a negative word. It was universal, the esteem for her.”

That universal respect for Coleman was powerfully illustrated in December 2010, when President Sheila Bair announced that the Eugene B. Casey Foundation had created a $1 million endowed scholarship fund in Coleman’s honor. The scholarship is awarded to students “of impeccable character” from Kent County. Betty Brown Casey ’47, chair of the Casey Foundation, requested that Coleman participate in choosing the scholarship recipient, which she did throughout the rest of her career at Washington and during her retirement. 

In lieu of flowers, Coleman’s family has requested donations to the Annie Brown Coleman Scholarship endowment at Washington College.

Mrs. Coleman is survived by her husband of 53 years, Elmer Dudley Coleman; her sons Brian Coleman ’94 (Donna) of Union, Kentucky, and Lawrence Coleman (Staci) of Rodgers, Minn; a sister, Barbara Wilson of Kittery, Maine; brother Carl Brown (Anna) of Huntington, MD; 10 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, July 8 at 11 a.m. in the Decker Theatre of the Daniel Z. Gibson Center for the Arts. Following the service fellowship will be held in the Underwood Lobby until 2 p.m.

Alexander, who knew Coleman starting when he was in middle school and later as a colleague, said he had kept in touch and was grateful to have been able to visit with her and her son Brian at the beginning of June. 

“There were more flowers in her living room than in the florist’s in Chestertown. I think she took so much comfort in that at the end, that people loved her, that people remembered her, that people loved her as a friend and as a colleague,” he said. “That shows what the Chestertown and Washington College community is all about. Frankly, I took a lot of comfort from that myself.”