Lt. Col. Richard C. “Stock” Coleman

Published 11:35 pm Thursday, March 31, 2011

Lt. Col. Richard C. “Stock” Coleman (Ret.), 63, of Fernandina Beach, Fla., formerly of Waycross, Ga., died Monday, March 28, 2011, at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla.

A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. today, April 1, at Central Baptist Church in Waycross. The family will visit with friends at the end of the service on Friday.

He was born in Eastman, Ga., to Lewis Warren Coleman and Mary Ruth Shiver Coleman. He was a 1965 gradate of Dodge County High School. Upon graduating high school, he joined the United States Marines. After his discharge from the Marines he began his career with the Georgia State Patrol. He earned an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Reinhardt University in Waleska, Ga., and also graduated from the F.B.I. Academy in Quantico, Va.

He then served as chief of security for Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter and Gov. George Busbee. Under President Carter’s administration, he took a position on the White House staff, appointed to assist Bert Lance in the Office of Management and Budget. After his time in Washington, he returned to Georgia and became captain and troop commander of the Georgia State Patrol headquartered in Waycross, Ga. He was promoted to major/commanding officer and then to lieutenant colonel of the Georgia State Patrol and was stationed in Atlanta, Ga. He was appointed to serve as head of security for the 1996 Torch Relay, which crossed the United States from Los Angeles to Atlanta, for the Olympic Games held in Atlanta. He retired from the Georgia State Patrol in 1997.

Upon his retirement, he returned to Waycross and became director of the Okefenokee Area Development Authority. He was also appointed to serve on the board of directors of the Georgia Port Authority. He also served as president of Vedado Trading Company, an agriculture and shipping company conducting business between the United States and Cuba. He was an avid runner, participating in the Peachtree Road Race on numerous occasions. He was an outdoor enthusiast who loved to hunt and fish, said his family. He was a member of the Waycross Fishing Club and a shareholder in the Okefenokee Golf and Country Club. In his early years, in Waycross, he was a member of Central Baptist Church and, more recently, was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Waycross.

He was preceded in death by his father, Lewis Warren Coleman; and two brothers, Dr. John Coleman and Dr. Dan Coleman.

He is survived by his wife, Jennifer Stinson Coleman of Fernandina Beach, Fla.; four children, Michele Ham and her husband Wayne of Eatonton, Ga., Ryan Coleman and his wife Stephani of Brunswick, Ga., Ross Coleman of Waycross, Ga., and Lucy Coleman of Nahunta, Ga.; his mother, Mary Ruth Coleman of Eastman, Ga.; two brothers, Terry Coleman and his wife Carol of Eastman, Ga., and Randy Coleman of Adel, Ga.; a sister, Ginny Neal and her husband Cody of Moultrie; and numerous nieces, nephews and other relatives.

The family requests memorial contributions be made to the Toys for Tots Charity with the Georgia State Patrol, c/o Department of Public Safety Credit Union, 959 E. Confederate Ave., Atlanta, Ga., 30316 or to the Georgia Sheriffs Boys Ranch, P.O. Box 100, Hahira, Ga., 31632.

Sympathy may be expressed by signing online at www.milesodumfuneralhome.com and www.moultrieobserver.com.

Miles-Odum Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.