Dr. Peter L. Colman writer of "Father of the Man"

In the ensuing years, during my grammar school and high school career (1954-1966), Dad seemed to just disappear from my young life; Uncle Jim would become my second ‘Dad’ and lifelong friend.

In the final analysis, I could not bring myself to ignore or neglect the father whom I had never really known. I could only recall three instances in nearly fifty years when Dad had ever showed up. Without my knowing it, he had attended my high school graduation at the new Kennedy Coliseum (bordering my old football field and cinder track at Gill Stadium) in 1966. He met me quickly outside after the ceremony; he left just as quickly, for fear, no doubt, that he would see my Mom. Then he was gone.

He showed up once for a Sunday evening service at our old home church (The Christian and Missionary Alliance Church at the corner of Merrimack and Hall streets), where Dad had served for several years as Sunday School Superintendent and song leader. That was the one evening when I had been invited to preach in the church where I had been raised and baptized. It was during our return trip, or ‘furlough,’ after our first five years in Africa.

The last time Dad ever ventured in our direction had been during our second furlough in1987, when we lived in Judy’s hometown of Dover, Ohio. Dad hadn’t been on an airplane since the end of the war (inexplicable, since he had been a paratrooper). He stayed with us for one week. He walked the children to school, and we spent hours at the kitchen table reminiscing about the Colman clan history. At that time Dad opened a large manila envelope and showed me enlarged photos of more than a century of prominent participants in the Colman family drama. He hand-wrote the names and relationship of each person. I have those photos to this day. My grandmother, Nellie (Moy) Colman Dwire, had discarded all of her photos, and these photos were the only surviving ones which Dad had managed to retrieve.





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