Marie L. Sprinkle Coleman

Mrs. Marie Sprinkle Coleman, 92, passed on January 12, 2022. She was born in Rosston, Ark., to Isaiah and Inez Beasley Henry on January 25, 1929. She graduated from Lanwood High School in Rison. Marie married Calvin Sprinkle, Jr., in 1946, helping him operate Sprinkle Pulpwood Company as bookkeeper. She was determined to finish college. With Calvin's support, she took time off from school after having each child, then continued attending Arkansas AM&N College (now University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff). By age 31, Marie had nine children and a college degree in Elementary Education. She taught at Lanwood Elementary School in Rison, then at Coleman and LL Owen Elementary Schools after moving to Pine Bluff. Marie went above and beyond for her students, especially those in need. She retired, but her love of children took her back to the classroom at Dodd Elementary School in Little Rock before retiring again. Marie treated clients of Sprinkle Pulpwood Company and others with class and professionalism. In 2019, the contributions of Calvin, Marie, and the company to Arkansas' timber industry were featured at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Little Rock. Marie was a member of Mt. Pleasant AME Church in Pine Bluff, serving as Trustee, Steward, Sunday School Teacher, Women's Missionary Society, Class Leader, Stewardess Board, and lead the Young People's Department Director, and church musician for several years. Marie cultivated an enormous garden with her built-in crew of nine helpers. She loved traveling, attending church, reading her Bible, canning and preserving food, and spending time with family. Grandchildren loved spending the night because they knew Grandma would have warm breakfast on the stove in the morning. She was an excellent cook whose chunky giblet gravy was unmatched. Marie walked and rode her exercise bike daily into her 90s. Always a stylish dresser. Her highlight was witnessing her children, grands, and great-grands graduate, no matter how far she had to travel. She remarked that, "every time a grandchild walks across that stage, I feel like I'm graduating all over again." Her memberships include the NAACP, National Association of University Women, Arkansas Retired Teachers Association, the Order of Eastern Star, and others. The City of Pine Bluff honored her by declaring January 25, 2019, "Marie Sprinkle Coleman Day." Calvin passed in 1996, just before their 50th anniversary. She later married Leon Coleman, who passed in 2012. Marie was also preceded in death by her parents; children, Patsy Lane, Harold Sprinkle and Rickey Sprinkle; siblings, Hazel, Orene, Mildred, Catherine, and Verna, and A.C., Raycine, and Matthew Henry; great-grandson Gerron Sprinkle, and son-in-law Kermes Lane. Survivors include children, Ila Dorn and Michael Sprinkle of Pine Bluff, Judge Alice Gray and Thelma Jones of Little Rock, Sherman (Retha) Sprinkle of White Hall, Ark., and Billy (Sheila) Sprinkle of Redfield, Ark.; daughter-in-law, Jacqulain Sprinkle; sisters, Christine Hawkins and Mattie Johnson; 28 grandchildren; over 65 great- and great-great-grandchildren; and other relatives and friends. Visitation Friday, January 21 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. and Celebration of Life Saturday, January 22, at 12:30 p.m. Both services at Mt. Pleasant AME Church, 1201 North Magnolia, Pine Bluff, Ark. Services entrusted to Brown Funeral Home of Pine Bluff. www.brownfuneralhomeandmortuary.com