Submitted photoFormer Meridian Firefighter Adrian G. Coleman will be remembered with a full fire department funeral Friday.

Friends and family remember former Meridian Firefighter Adrian Gray Coleman as an easy-going, generous personality who enjoyed coaching his sons’ sport teams and outdoor activities such as fishing, camping and hunting.

“He was the kind of guy you could call when you were moving,” Jeremy Holdiness, who worked with Coleman at both the Meridian Fire Department and Key Field Fire Department, said. “And he would actually show up. He wouldn’t make any excuses.”

Often spending 48 straight hours together between the two jobs, Holdiness described Coleman as very generous with his time and money, often using his side business as an HVAC technician to help the many friends he had.

“People would always call and say their AC went out or their heat didn’t work and Adrian would take off to fix it,” Holdiness said. “And he wouldn’t just swap parts or tell you that you needed a new $8,000 unit. He’d take the time to find out what was wrong.”

Holdiness remembers 22 years ago, when Coleman asked his wife, Shannon, to marry him.

“He had them take the firetruck down like they were responding to a call,” Holdiness said, laughing at the thought. “We probably couldn’t do that now.”

According to his obituary, Coleman, 49, graduated from Meridian High School in 1987, joining the U.S. Navy following graduation. 

He worked with the Meridian Fire Department for 23 years, spending eight years with the Key Field Fire Department with the Air Force, before retiring in 2014, according to the obituary.

“It’s a tragic loss for the fire department family,” Ricky Leister, the Meridian Fire Chief, said. “He was our friend. Nobody likes to see their friend go.”

As a fire captain, Leister said that Coleman knew his job and made good calls.

“He was fun to be around, easy to get along with,” Leister said. “We spent a third of our life together.”

According to an accident investigation report from the Mississippi Highway Patrol, Coleman died Wednesday after he apparently lost control of his 2002 Toyota Sequoia and hit a tree off of the shoulder of Highway 494, six miles east of Union. The airbag deployed and pinned Coleman in the vehicle.

Services for Coleman, who will receive a full fire department funeral, are scheduled at 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31 at the Robert Barham Family Funeral Home with visitation beginning at noon. Burial will be at Forest Lawn Cemetery.