Funeral for former circuit judge Friday in New Albany
Jan. 27—NEW ALBANY — The funeral service for retired circuit judge Robert Kenneth Coleman is scheduled for Friday in New Albany.
Coleman, 85, died Tuesday, Jan. 25, in Oxford. The funeral service will be held Friday, Jan. 28, at noon at First Baptist Church in New Albany. United Funeral Service in New Albany is in charge of arrangements.
Gov. Bill Allain appointed Judge Coleman to the Third Circuit Court in 1986. Judge Coleman retired Dec. 31, 2001 but continued to hear cases as a senior status judge by appointment of the Supreme Court until 2016.
Coleman served as District Attorney for the Third District for 10 years before he was appointed to the bench. The Third Circuit includes Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah and Union counties. He was in private practice and served as Okolona city attorney and attorney for the Okolona Municipal Separate School District before becoming district attorney in 1976. He served as President of the Mississippi Prosecutors Association and on the Board of Directors of the National District Attorneys Association.
Coleman was born in Montpelier in Clay County. He graduated from Okolona High School and attended Itawamba Junior College. He later earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Mississippi and a Juris Doctor degree from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.
Retired Circuit Judge John Gregory of Okolona, who will deliver the funeral eulogy, said Judge Coleman was a lifelong friend and mentor.
"He taught me how to try cases. We tried a lot of cases back then. Doing the right thing — there was no other way to do it," Gregory said. "I was blessed to have him to guide me, teach me."
Retired Circuit Judge Andrew Howorth was appointed to the Third Circuit vacancy when Judge Coleman retired, and practiced law before him.
Howorth said Coleman "liked to take care of business" but he was affable on and off the bench. He was a story teller, bursting out in laughter in his oft-told humorous accounts.
"He was beloved and respected. He never had an opponent. He ran unopposed. That's how well liked he was," Howorth said.
