GLADYS M. COLEMAN
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The late Gladys M. Coleman was a member of one of the first black families to come to Pasco. She, with her parents and two other black families, moved to Pasco from Mississippi in 1906. The men got employment as railroad workers. Later, she and her husband conducted home religious services at 127 Bonneville Street, and also did missionary work in Seattle for two years. In the 1930’s she worked in the home of Whitman College President Penrose, where she developed an interest in music. She graduated from Pasco High School in 1922, the first Black to do so. One of her former schoolmates, several years behind her, Leola Speed, remembers her as a friendly and outgoing person. Mrs. Coleman was for many years a member of the women’s auxiliary of the Salvation Army.
Mrs. Coleman, who spent most of her 70 years in Pasco, told friends that she had no particular problems, and “was accepted.” She passed away in November 1976.
