PART 1. HUMBLE BEGINNING
                Howard Fredricks: Today is March 18, 1969, it's approximately 9:35 a.m.
                and I am at the home of John B. Coleman; the man whose name and
                whose career is almost synonymous with the Western Wisconsin Tech-
                nical Institute, the former La Crosse Coleman Vocational School.
                    Mr. Coleman, let's begin with your background. Where were you
                born; who were your parents?
                John Coleman: Well, Howard, I was born in Whitewater, Wisconsin,
                in 1889. Born to Joshua L. Coleman and Mary Susan Coleman. I was one
                of eight children, having three brothers and four sisters.
                Fredricks: What do you remember of your childhood John?
                Coleman: Well first, I guess the thing I remember most that made a
                big impression on me was the death of my father, which occurred when
                I was seven years of age.
                    At that time I was attending the Esterly Public School on the east
                side of Whitewater. I attended this school supposedly through four grades,
                but I found out at the end of my fourth grade sojourn, that I had flunked.
                It then became necessary for me to find another school. So I walked two
                or three miles, I have forgotten the distance, from my home on the east
                side to Whitewater Normal School, as it was known at that time, over on
                the other side of the village.
                    I attended Whitewater Normal through the eighth grade, repeating
                the fourth grade, of course.
                    After eighth grade I took an examination for entrance to the teacher-
                training department. I passed all the exam subjects except two, so I had
                to take those in what was then known as a preparatory department.
                    Just at that time I was taken with an illness which necessitated staying
                out of school. The illness was severe enough to interrupt my early start at
                teacher preparation and it became necessary for me to attend the White-
                water High School for one semester.
                    After the year in high school I went back to Whitewater Normal and
                finished my two years of teacher training. At which time I was-what
                they called-"certificated." That meant that I got a certificate to teach
                school.
                    To tell you the truth, I didn't really realize that I was going to be a
                teacher. You didn't have too many good guidance counsellors at that time.
                But "prexy" called me into the office and wanted to know what kind of
                a position I felt I could fill.
Principal       Fredricks: Who was "Prexy"?
At Kiel        Coleman: "Prexy" was Albert Salsbury, who was president of White-
                water Normal for many, many years. The long and the short of it was
                that people came to Whitewater to have interviews with prospective
                teachers, and I was selected to be what was supposed to be a principal
                of a grade school in Kiel, Wisconsin.
                    Now, this grade school was located just across the road from the Kiel
                High School. Of course, I felt rather proud of the fact that I was to be
                principal of a school at that early age.
                Fredricks: How old were you?
                Coleman: I was eighteen. Of course, eighteen years of age at that time
                was much younger than it is at the present time.
                    Well, when I arrived to take over my job, I found out that my duties
                consisted of selling pencils and paper, the handling of school supplies being



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