RANDOLPH BUCK COLEMAN
Randolph Buck Coleman, 79, one of about 20 founding members of the St. James the Less Episcopal Church in Northfield, died Sunday, July 16, of heart failure in his home. Mr. Coleman grew up in Winnetka, the son of the original manufacturer of American Flyer electric toy trains. He attended Colgate University and then served in World War II in the Netherlands and Germany, where he was a communications sergeant. He earned a Bronze Star for keeping critical communications lines open in October and November 1944. In the late 1950s, he began work as a computer systems designer. His daughter, Jane Coleman Trotter, said her father always had a thirst for knowledge. He would encourage this by reading Rudyard Kipling to her and the neighborhood children. Up until his death, he would act as a resource concerning the history of American Flyer model trains. "He was a very kind person," she said. "If there had been a Knights of the Round Table, he'd be a knight. He was caring to everybody." Other survivors include his wife of 53 years, Virginia; a sister, Kirby Coleman Brown; and two grandchildren. A memorial service will held be 4:30 p.m. Thursday in St. James the Less Episcopal Church, 550 Sunset Ridge Rd., Northfield.
