Bertha Mae Coleman

Bertha Mae Coleman was born on April 19, 1936, in Forrest City, Arkansas, the daughter of sharecroppers, Landy Allen and Bertha Smith. Her father died when she was quite young, which made it difficult for her mother to provide for her family.  Bertha grew up in Forrest City, Arkansas, where she attended Lincoln Junior Senior High School before moving to Beaumont, Texas, then Memphis, Tennessee, and back to Forrest City. She was sixteen when she married Jimmy Lee Brewer and they had two children together, first, a son, Larry, and then a daughter, Doris.

In 1960, she moved to Chicago where she found employment at the Fox River Pavilion Rehabilitation center as a nurse's aide. Later, she took on two jobs when she began working the night shift as a mail handler at the US Postal Service part time during the Christmas rush. By now she was reunited with her two children, Larry and Doris Jean Brewer since the summer of 1963, and moved into Stateway Gardens Public Housing Project. It wasn't long before she left the job at Fox River Pavilion and went to work full-time at the Post Office.

She met and married Huey Coleman, and in the summer of 1969, she moved to Gary, where she made her church home at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church and attended for many years.

Before retiring from the Post Office in 2010, Bertha achieved the rank of Shift Supervisor after working for the Postal Service for 42 years. She also became a member of the St. Mark Lodge AF & AM & Oriental Grand Chapter of the Order of the Order of the Eastern Star, 2167 West 9th Avenue Gary, Indiana. She ascended to the rank of Supreme Royal Ladies Accepted Scottish Rights of Adoption during her almost fifty years of service.

Bertha was preceded in death by her parents, Landy and Bertha Allen; her brother, Willie Wade; sister, Jeanette Hayes; husbands, Jimmy Lee Brewer and, Huey Coleman.

Bertha leaves behind a legacy to cherish her memory: her children, daughter, Doris Brewer-Cole; son, Larry Brewer; her grandchildren, grandson, Arther Hines, granddaughter, Quientesa Holloway, grandson, Theodis Cole, grandson, Chauncey Cole; granddaughter, Sonya Brewer, grandson, Ibrahim Rahsaan Brewer, and a host of great-grandchildren; great-great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, and close friends.

Visitation Friday, August 2, 2024, 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. with Homegoing Service 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. from Ridgelawn Funeral Home 4201 West Ridge Road Gary, Indiana 46408. Interment Ridgelawn Cemetery 4401 West Ridge Road Gary, Indiana 46408.

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