Funeral Held Saturday for Roswell Resident Ora Coleman, 89

Lifelong Roswell resident, Ora Coleman, 89, was found dead in his home Sunday, Jan. 29, according to the and his neighbors.

His funeral will be held Saturday, Feb.4 at on Mansell Road.

Coleman - part of the namesake Coleman Road family - was born and raised on Coleman Farms. During his childhood the family owned 125 acres of land in the area near the historic district of Roswell, but as of four years ago Coleman had sold off much of the property until he only had to maintain a six and a half acre farm.

Several years ago he told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that the property was worth over a million dollars, but he would never sell the land which he had known all his life and continued to raise ducks, geese, cows, goats, chickens, rabbits and doves.

Neighbor Chuck Rann said emergency personel were called to Coleman Farms Sunday morning, where another neighbor told him of Coleman's death. Roswell Police Department Spokeswoman Lisa Holland confirmed the news, telling Roswell Patch that rescue personel were called to Coleman's residence only to find him dead already at around 8:44 a.m.

Rann told Roswell Patch that Coleman, a member of , always opened his farm to locals, offering visitors a rabbit or baby chick most of the time.

"He gave us a goat once and we named it 'Billy Bob,'" said Rann. "That was the friendliest goat and it loved to run and play with the kids in the fenced-in back yard. We had to take him back when he started to butt the sliding glass door in the morning."

Rann went on to remember how Coleman would be in the middle of telling a story and with a faraway look, as if he had traveled back in memory, stop to say: "God, yes," three-quarters of the way through. 

"I will always remember him as a gentle soul," said Rann.

You can leave your own memories and photos of Coleman on the recenly begun "In Memory of Mr. Ora Coleman" Facebook page.