Cecilia Coleman

Cecilia Coleman met Arthur L. Coleman Jr., a radiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, in 1950. On their first date, wrote her son Edward Coleman of Green Bay, Wis., and Tulsa, Okla., they went into a Catholic church near the hospital and lit a candle together. She “silently prayed that he might be the one,” he wrote. The couple married on May 26, 1951, at the Church of St. Augustine in Larchmont, N.Y., and remained together until Dr. Coleman’s death in 1996.

Mrs. Coleman, who spent summers in Montauk from the 1960s until recently, died on Dec. 10 at Astor Terrace, the rehabilitation unit of the Odd Fellow Home nursing facility in Green Bay. She was 94.

Born on Sept. 18, 1922, in Brooklyn to Edward Maguire and the former Cecilia Gannon, she moved with her family to Larchmont when she was 12. She graduated from St. Gabriel High School in New Rochelle in 1940 and the College of New Rochelle in 1944. She later earned a master’s degree in medical social work from Fordham University in the Bronx.

During the Korean War, Mrs. Coleman’s husband was stationed with the Army Medical Corps in Sendai, Japan, where their first two children were born. In the mid-1950s, her husband completed his residency at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology in St. Louis, where two more children were born. Another four were born after the family moved to Larchmont in 1955.

Mrs. Coleman and her husband were active members of the Church of St. Augustine and the Larchmont Yacht Club for 30 years. In 1977, the couple moved to Buffalo, where Dr. Coleman had a radiology practice at the Sisters of Charity Hospital. They later moved to Olean, N.Y., where he worked with the Olean Medical Group.

The two loved to travel, visiting Europe, Asia, and South America. Their faith was of paramount importance, her son wrote. The family enjoyed hiking, skiing, sailing, and swimming together. The kitchen table was the center of many warm memories, her son wrote. Mrs. Coleman was proud of her Irish Catholic heritage and taught its traditions to her children with loving respect.

Later in life, she lived with her children in their respective homes. Most recently, she lived with her son Edward in Green Bay and at Astor Terrace.

Mrs. Coleman’s four siblings died before her, as did a son. In addition to Edward Coleman, six other children survive. They are Arthur Coleman of Larchmont, Mary Cecilia Kelly of Rye, N.Y., Peter and Paul Coleman, both of Bridgeport, Conn., Gerard Coleman of Galveston, Tex., and Eugene Coleman of Montauk. Twenty-one grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren also survive.

Visiting hours were on Dec. 13 at Newcomer Funeral Home in Green Bay. A Mass of Christian burial was offered on Saturday at Holy Cross Church in Fairfield, Conn., the Rev. Alfred Pecaric presiding. Burial followed at St. Thomas Cemetery in Fairfield.

Mrs. Coleman’s family has suggested memorial contributions to the Monastery of the Holy Name of Jesus Discalced Carmelite Nuns, 6100 Pepper Road, Denmark, Wis. 54208, or holynamecarmel.org.