Tommy Lane Coleman

Tommy Lane Coleman, 74, passed away just before 2 AM 11/28/2023 in Klamath Falls, OR. Tommy was born on September 21, 1949 to Robert Bryce and Alice Lucille Coleman. He is survived by his wife Connie, children Allison (Donnie), Stephanie, Kevin (Christina), and Melissa (Flicker), stepchildren Cathy (Randy) and Dusty, and a small village of grandchildren and great grandchildren, brothers Ron, Curt, and Rodney, sisters Colleen, Sherry, and Janet, and Phil who was legally a cousin, but more like a brother and several other cousins. Tommy’s first love was baseball. He was involved with the game until he was 70 years old. First as a childhood fan watching the Brooklyn Dodgers on TV with his mother, then playing the game with his older brothers, and little league and school teams. After an injury to his pitching arm effectively put an end to his time as a player, he remained close to the sport as an umpire and later as a coach. At 25, he began coaching baseball and was active at one level or another for the next 45 years. Tommy even wrote a book entitled “Is Your Coach Bona Fide or a Bonehead” in the hopes of passing on some of his knowledge to beginning coaches, players, and parents. Aside from baseball, Tommy was also active in several youth sports programs and in the 80’s helped to put on “all comer trackmeets” during the summer. Tommy worked at and retired from Columbia Plywood and was an avid outdoorsman. He loved to fish, hunt, hike, and pick huckleberries and described the wilderness as “church”.  He also loved a good dad joke and puns were his specialty. As an example, once while listening to “Mother of the Bride” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, in reference to a line “squeeze my hand whisper earnestly that you, hope they avoid all the pain that we went through”, he asked “Who is Ernest Lee and why does he want him whispering in his ear?” Services will be at a date to be determined. Anyone wishing to pay their respects in the meantime is asked to make a donation to a local youth recreation program.

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