A Life Story

First, more about my really smart parents. Both were born in New Orleans in 1926.   My mother attended the St. Louis Cathedral School in the French Quarter.  A group of Mexican nuns taught at the school.  She attended Holy Angels Academy for high school.  Because New Orleans schools only went through eleven grades, she was 16 when she graduated first in her class with a 98 average.  Next came a significant event in her life. My mother was awarded at least one scholarship to college.  The family physician, having seen her talent and intelligence, had promised to send her to medical school after she graduated from college.  Unfortunately, on the streetcar ride home from graduation, my grandmother told my mother that she couldn't go to college, that the family needed her to go to work.  The reason this was so significant (I would have been devastated!) comes next. She sent to work for the family dentist, learning dental hygiene on the job. ...

 I'm writing this blog for my grandsons. Sam and Ben Bowman, primarily, and for my daughters, Claire Coleman Bowman and Ellen Coleman. In the past, I've given them snatches of my life story, but rarely have I put anything down in writing.  When I have (my other blog has a narrative about my schooling), I painted only an incomplete picture. I hope to remedy that with this blog. My paternal grandparents were James Gerard Coleman, Sr. and Barbara (Rodriguez) Coleman.  He came from mostly Irish stock and she from Spanish and German, according to research I did on Ancestry.com.  He was raised Catholic and she, Lutheran. My grandfather worked in the business office of the public utility of New Orleans.  I remember him as being a lot of fun for his first grandson who bore his name.  I have a picture of him getting down on the ground and giving me a ride.  My grandfather died when I was three, so I don't have many memories of him.  Here also is a picture ...