Curtis Reginald Coleman

Curtis Reginald Coleman was born December 28, 1954 in Albany, Oregon to Helen and James Coleman of St. Paul, Oregon. He passed away on April 7, 2024 at Salem General Hospital due to MDS and the complications of pneumonia. Never married, Curtis is survived by his siblings, Katherine Sheehy of Santa Maria CA, Cornelia Coleman of Portland, OR, Christopher Coleman and Caroline Richter, both of St. Paul, and Clinton Coleman of Canby, Oregon. Curtis grew up in St. Paul, Oregon and attended St. Paul Parochial School and St. Paul High School, graduating in 1973 from Newberg High School. Keenly interested in business, he became a securities and equities broker in Portland during the 1980’s and 90’s, beginning his career at M.S. Wein and ending at Paulson Investments in Portland, Oregon. After a 16-year career as a stockbroker, he relocated to Santa Maria California in 2003. There, he pursued his education at Allan Hancock College while assuming stewardship of the historic San Ramon Chapel in Sisquoc, California. In 2005, he put his studies on hold to return to Oregon to assist his family in providing end-of-life care for his father, James Coleman. Upon his father’s passing a year later, he was encouraged by family members to remain as his mother’s companion and caregiver, ensuring that she could continue living in the family home. He unselfishly assumed this role, providing her with the care, companionship and security she needed in her later years. During this period he resumed his studies, this time at Portland State University. Intellectually curious, he studied financial markets and political systems with equal gusto, unconcerned about sitting in classes with students decades younger than himself, always willing to provide perspective and real life examples as well as pinpoint analyses of any topic under discussion. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science in Fall of 2015 and was making plans for grad school when he was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a rare form of blood cancer. Curtis spent his last years fighting his illness while living in St. Paul in the home of his sister, Caroline Richter. Curtis was intelligent and attractive, with a wry sense of humor and an infectious personality that won him many friends. Music was his life-long passion. He got his first guitar when he was 25, practiced diligently, and became a proficient and expressive musician, developing an encyclopedic knowledge of artists, instruments and musical styles as well as receiving invitations to play in professional sessions. At an early age he understood the importance and responsibility to help others, as attested by the sensitive and loving care he took of his parents in their waning years, a testament to his unselfish generosity of spirit. He was an attentive listener and an expert giver of advice and his kindly heart and humorous spirit will be sorely missed by all his siblings. There will be a funeral mass on Friday, April 26, 2024 at 10:00 am in the St. Paul Catholic Church, in St Paul, Oregon. Interment will follow at the St. Paul Catholic Cemetery.

Curtis Reginald Coleman

December 28, 1954 - April 7, 2024