Morris remembers longtime fire chief Bob Coleman

Bob Coleman, who served with the Morris Fire Department for 52 years while serving as chief for many of those years and before becoming the city’s fire marshal, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Wednesday, according to his obituary.

Coleman, who was 86, was born on May 2, 1938 to Harold and Pauline Coleman. He attended Morris High School, graduating in 1956. He married his wife, Barb Wiltermood shortly thereafter.

When Coleman started with the Morris Fire Department in 1960, it was a volunteer organization made up of 25 firefighters who each had their own day jobs and careers. Coleman’s day job was as a real estate agent, having received his license that same year. He went on to own and operate Century 21 Real Estate from 1978 to 2012.

By the time he retired, it was a fully staffed full-time department, with a new station on Ashton Road and the idea for what would become the new station on Armstrong Street in the works.

“He’s been an icon for years,” said Morris Mayor Chris Brown. “Everybody in the area, whether it’s a fire department or police department for a 60-mile radius or larger, has worked with Bob for many years. He’s been a tremendous asset to the community, and he’s going to be truly missed.”

Brown said Coleman was the guy that led the effort to pass the referendum for the formation of the Morris Fire Protection District in 1990. It was his vision for the downtown Morris fire station that current Chief Tracey Steffes was able to follow through.

“I designed that station,” Coleman told the Morris Herald-News in a May 2024 story, in reference to the Ashton Street station. “We had the architect sign the papers, and I knew what we needed between the firemen and me. And the whole thing is, we paid for it when it was built. There was no financing. The taxpayers didn’t have to come up with any money. It was paid for at the time. We saved and saved and saved and saved that whole time.”

He didn’t take sole credit for his accomplishments. Coleman believed in the people around him, in the brotherhood created in those early days at the Morris Fire Department.

When it grew into the Morris Fire Protection District, he had people like Steffes and Bob Wills, who retired in 2024, as deputy chiefs.

“It’s amazing how things come to you when you’re looking for answers,” Coleman said in the May 2024. “And your people sometimes give you the answer, you know? It’s not always you. It’s your people.”

Coleman did get to see the opening of the new Armstrong Street station in October. Not only did he tour the station, he won a raffle for a colorized print photo from the 1950s of the Morris firefighters working on their old steam fire truck from Judge Scott Belt. That fire truck currently sits in the Morris fire museum, along with a large aluminum print of the photo.

Coleman’s visitation will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Morris Fire Department, 2301 Ashton Road, and a celebration of life will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the same place officiated by Pastor Steve Larson. Coleman will be laid to rest at Evergreen Cemetery.

For a full obituary, https://www.ucdaviscallahan.com/obituaries/Robert-H-Coleman?obId=34531102.