Bettie Jean (Bailey) Coleman
October 9, 1938 — June 7, 2016
Bettie Jean Bailey Coleman, age 77, resident of Oakland and wife of the late Kenneth M. Coleman, departed this life Tuesday morning, June 7, 2016 at her residence.
Graveside Services for Mrs. Coleman were conducted at 2 P.M. Thursday, June 9, 2016 with Bro. Chip Taylor, pastor of the Hartland Baptist Church in Memphis, officiating. Interment followed in the Fayette County Memorial Park Cemetery on Highway 64. Arrangements were provided by Peebles Fayette County Funeral Homes & Cremation Center – West Chapel at Oakland.
Mrs. Coleman was born October 9, 1938 in Tupelo, Mississippi. She was a 1956 graduate of Tupelo High School and attended Freed-Hardeman College in Henderson. She was married in the Fall of 1966 to Kenneth M. Coleman and was employed as a proofreader for the Commercial Appeal for 35 years before her retirement in 2000. Mrs. Coleman was a longtime member of the Trinity Baptist Church and most recently a member of the Somerville First Baptist Church. She was a resident of Memphis since 1965 before moving to Oakland in 2004. Mrs. Coleman enjoyed painting, making sculptures, gardening and swimming in earlier years.
Mrs. Coleman is survived by her daughter, Alice Melton and her husband, Edward, of Oakland; her son, S.R. Maxwell of Oakland; her sister, Sandra Hunt of Tupelo, Mississippi; two grandchildren, Casey Melton, Rylie Melton; two step-grandchildren; a host of step great-grandchildren; and her caregivers, Christina Taylor, Leyxe Scott, Laurie Deener and Belinda Wilson.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth M. Coleman who died July 12, 2007; her parents, Garfield Bailey and Alice Almyra “Myra” Segars Bailey; and her son, Charles Edward Coleman.
The family requests that memorials be directed to the Memphis Fire Fighters Association, 5150 Stage Road, Memphis, TN 38134, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O. Box 1000, Department 142, Memphis, TN 38148 or the charity of the donor’s choice.