Legacy Society - Lewis D. Coleman and Carolyn H. Coleman


Lewis D. Coleman and Carolyn H. Coleman - Lifelong Mercer County Residents

  • Lew and Carolyn were very involved in the Community as lifelong Mercer County residents.  Lew served numerous years on the Boys & Girls Club Board of Directors, and therefore saw first-hand the impact the Club had on the lives of area youth.  It is because of this impact, their children choose to set up an endowment and scholarship fund in their name to benefit Club youth.

    The following are their stories:

    Lew was Born in Clarksville, New Jersey he grew up on his family's farm, more recently the site of American Cyanamid adjacent to what is now the Quaker Bridge Mall. He was the youngest of four brothers. Lew graduated Princeton High School as class president and leader of the Lew Coleman Orchestra. He went on to graduate Rider College and subsequently served his country in the Air National Guard during the Korean War. A prodigious storyteller, Lew often recounted his emergence as a salesman: He began work as a parts department clerk for his brothers Earl and Reuney at Coleman Buick in Hightstown, and one evening Earl asked him to drive a new Buick to a farm in Flemington to show the car to the farmer. The next morning, Lew dropped three buyers' orders from the farmer's family on Earl's desk. From that moment forward, Lew was a salesman. Those who were fortunate enough to meet Lew professionally know he was a consummate salesman, becoming a very successful auto dealer. He was also a compassionate employer, a loyal friend, a dedicated Christian, a generous philanthropist; and to his family, the most loving, selfless and proud husband, father, grandfather imaginable. Lew was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck and served as Sunday school teacher, trustee, deacon and elder. He served many charitable organizations. Most lately he served on the Board of Directors of the Mercer County Boys and Girls Club. He received the George Washington Council Boy Scouts Good Guy Award in 1992. He was a member of "The Sinners" in the West Windsor Lions Club. He also held memberships in the Ewing Lions Club, American Legion and Hightstown Elks Club. He was an active fund raiser for Rider University and for over 28 years was instrumental in raising almost a half million dollars for Deborah Hospital. Business accomplishments included co-founding Coleman Oldsmobile in Ewing. During the time Lew served as president he garnered many service and sales awards in which allowed him to travel the world with Carolyn, his beloved wife of 57 years. In 1988 he served as Chairman of New Jersey Auto Dealers Association. In 1991 he was named New Jersey's Time Magazine Quality Dealer of the Year. Lew was passionate about his private time and enjoyed socializing with friends, intimate family gatherings, playing tennis, golfing at Peddie and Trenton Golf Clubs, landscaping his yard and following Eagles football. He was a doll house craftsman and was a favorite playfellow of family pets, most lately his daughter Lynn's Cocker Spaniel, "Sandy."

     

    Carolyn was born on December 30, 1932 in Milwaukee Wisconsin to Clarendon and Mildred Swanson Wilcox. A young Carolyn came to NJ with her parents and older sister Gwen in the family car. She would recount the journey later to her grandchildren remarking that the flat wooden back seat was quite uncomfortable. They settled in Belle Mead on property owned by her mother's sister, Aunt Tollie. Carolyn graduated from Princeton High School in 1950 after meeting the love of her life, Lewis D. Coleman, when they both played in the school orchestra. Carolyn was proficient at violin as well as piano and she played both for her family for years afterwards. After high school, Carolyn briefly attended her aunt's finishing school before marrying Lew and becoming a mother to her first son. She and Lew had two more children and while Lew achieved success in the automobile business, Carolyn was a devoted mother, wife and mom. Carolyn achieved her own fame as a fabulous ballroom dancer, tennis player and swimmer who could navigate a pool or the ocean with ease and did all of these well into her 70s. She loved to tour the relatives' farms and orchards and was great at knowing what to buy, even if she wasn't as sure what to do with it when she got home, but all of that was of little importance to her family. Carolyn accompanied Lew on many fabulous trips all over the country and the world when Oldsmobile would sponsor them in those days. Perhaps the one we remember the best though is when Dad surprised her at Christmas one year with a trip to Mom's ancestral homeland, Sweden. Oldsmobile wasn't paying for that one. Carolyn was a member of Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church for 67 years. Carolyn enjoyed time with her many friends who they socialized with as couples or just she and the gals, too numerous to mention here, but special mention goes to swimming with her next door neighbor and niece in-law Lois.

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