Robert Kenneth “Ken” Coleman

Judge Robert Kenneth “Ken” Coleman, 85, died at Magnolia at the Commons in Oxford, Mississippi on the 25th day of January, 2022. Judge Coleman was born on September 8, 1936, in Montpelier, Clay County, Mississippi, to Robert W. Coleman and Maurine Anderson Coleman. He graduated from Okolona High School, attended Itawamba Junior College, and received his BBA degree from the University of Mississippi and his J.D. degree from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.
Judge Coleman served in the Mississippi Army National Guard and Reserves, reaching the rank of Sergeant First Class. He served as City Attorney and Attorney for Okolona Municipal Separate School District, was elected to the Itawamba Junior College Hall of Fame and had served as President of the Mississippi Prosecutors Association and on the Board of Directors of the National District Attorneys Association. He was elected District Attorney of the Third Circuit Court District, serving Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah and Union Counties in 1975 and served until appointed Circuit Court Judge of the Third Circuit Court District in 1986 by Governor Bill Allain and served until retiring as Senior Circuit Judge in 2002. After retiring he continued to serve throughout the State as a Senior Status Circuit Judge by appointment of the Supreme Court until 2016. He was a devoted member of First Baptist Church of New Albany, where he served as a deacon, a Sunday School teacher and a choir member for many years.
Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Patsy “Patty Ann” McKee Coleman, his daughter Catherine Coleman McClinton (Kelton), his son Robert W. Coleman II (Linda), grandchildren Mark Coleman McClinton (Kay), Mary Catherine Porter (Brian), Robert Kenneth Coleman II (Molly), Laura Leigh Coleman, Marian Coleman Griggs (Joey), William Stovall Coleman (Anna Kate), Richard McKee Coleman and Virginia Ann Coleman, a sister Celia Coleman Fisher (Harvey), nephews, Jay McKee (Kim), Randy Bishop, nieces, Tina Scholtes (Robby), Gail Stevens (Dean), Mary Beth Wilkerson (Jimmy), cousins, Joanne Davis, Lake Waldrop and Janice Coleman.
He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother-in-law Charles McKee and his wife Ruth Wilson McKee, a niece Kay McKee Bishop, cousins David Wiley Coleman and Col. Robert Stacy Coleman, Mississippi Army National Guard and a great nephew Park Coleman Stevens.
Funeral services will be at 12:00p.m. Friday, January 28, 2022 at First Baptist Church of New Albany with Pastor Andrew Chesteen and Dr. Roy McHenry officiating and Judge John Gregory to deliver the eulogy. There will be no visitation or family meal due to Covid. The family request that mask be worn.
Judge Coleman’s grandsons will serve as pallbearers, Mark Coleman McClinton, Robert Kenneth Coleman II, William Stovall Coleman, Richard McKee Coleman, Joseph Robert Griggs, Brian Clayton Porter and Julien Rundell Tatum III. Honorary pallbearers will be the Charlie Hall Sunday School Class of First Baptist Church of New Albany, Tuesday Morning Bible Study members, Judge William Lewis Brown, Dr. Tommy Barkley, Dr. Jason Dees, William Clyde Stewart, Preston Sullivan, Mike Sullivan, Judge John Gregory, members of the Mississippi Bar Association, and members of Mississippi law enforcement and first responders.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in his memory to Palmer Home, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, First Baptist Church of New Albany or Union County Baptist Association Soup for Souls.
United Funeral Service is honored to be entrusted with these arrangements. For online condolences and guest registry, please visit www.unitedfuneralservice.com