Lorene Ellen Coleman: ‘Holy smokes, she did it!’

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She’s rounding first… now second… even third… Folks it appears she could go all the way… Holy smokes, she did it! Ladies and gentleman, Lorene Coleman has achieved her final home run!!! She hit home plate, took her final bow, and has forever retired from the great game of life. And it is through tears that the crowd cheers.

Anybody that knew Lorene Coleman knew that she loved playing softball. Her grandkids and great grandkids never knew a grandma that didn’t play softball. It was simply a passion of hers for the latter part of her life. And she wasn’t just a ho-hum player either.

She was committed to the cause. In fact, a couple of years ago she was playing on a women’s summer league with others of all ages but she was by far the oldest. She was the pitcher and everyone was afraid during their game that they would hit a line drive up the field and take out poor old Grandma, which she was known as by many. The game was going well. It needs mentioning that on that day one of her grand daughters was also playing but on the rival team. Well, her grand daughter went up to bat and low and behold she’s the one that hits a line drive up the middle that clobbers Grandma right in the shin. Her grand daughter throws down the bat and almost starts crying because she knows she’s hurt Grandma. She begins to walk toward the pitchers mound to check on her as she is indeed hobbling. The thing is, she is hobbling toward the ball, at which point she looks up, scowls at her grand daughter for apparently attempting to check on her, picks the ball up and throws her grand daughter out at first. Now if that doesn’t give you a sense of how dedicated to the game and how much grit she had, I’m not sure what will.

Lorene Ellen Coleman was born in Hot Springs, South Dakota on May 19, 1932. Her first homestead was dug into the mountains on the southern edge of the Black Hills. It’s been told that when her mother, Maud Cone, was in labor with her that her dad, Ivan Cone, loaded her into the sidecar of a motorcycle and drove her to the hospital for delivery. This is how Lorene, the final member to their Cone family, would arrive to the world.

By the time she was 2 1/2 years old her family moved to Snoqualmie Falls, Washington. She would live in Washington until her family finally made their way to Hydesville, California where they owned a railroad tie business for several years. During her time living in Hydesville, she met the man that would become her husband, Tom Coleman, and had three children during the time that they were married. It was in 1965 that they bought a place out on Palmer Blvd in Fortuna. And even though they did not stay together, Lorene stayed in that house for the rest of her life making 857 Palmer Blvd a beacon of light and refuge for family and friends for more than 55 years.

Lorene was many things to many people. She was a mother (not to mention the best Moto- mom that seemingly ever existed during the life of motorcycle racing), daughter, aunt, cousin, sister-in-law, grandma, great grandma, friend, deacon, softball champion, volleyball hack, teacher, spiritual advisor, volunteer chaplain, choir singer extraordinaire, dispatcher for the State Parks, and simply an all around strong, independent, stubborn yet jolly, caring, bad-ass woman that was dedicated to serving her Lord.

Lorene is preceded in death by Maud Cone, Ivan Cone, Delford Cone, Kenneth Cone, Thomas Coleman, Doug Coleman, and Bethany Casey. Lorene is survived by her brother Carol Cone, her children Pam Coleman, Penny Coleman, Matt Coleman (Shawn Coleman), her grandchildren Danielle Rucker-Vieira (David Rucker- Vieira), Robyn Flynn, Jared Wilson (Amy Wilson), Nathan Grant (Natalie Grant), Autumn Person (Mark Person), Drew Coleman (Serena Coleman), Kymberlie Lewis, Mackenzie Coleman, Kylie Coleman, and her great grandchildren Casey Hagans, Abbey Hagans, Emilyn Wilson, RJ Wilson, Yasmine Grant, Bailey Grant, Ava Person, Jackson Person, Atayveon Coleman, Jason Coleman, Rylee Lewis, Alexis Coleman, Parker Bellach, and Mya Coleman.

One of Lorene’s quotes was, “I’ve always said, just give me one more game. You can beat me nine times out of ten but I still want to play the tenth game.” We weren’t necessarily keeping score on wins and losses, or even how many games were played throughout the years, but one thing is for sure

— On September 14, 2020 Lorene Ellen Coleman played her final game, hung up her glove, and ended with her final home run. And though she will be missed tremendously, we are all comforted to know that she made it home.