RAMSEY COUNTY For the Good of the Order: The Ad Man Becomes the “Senator from Ramsey” John Watson Milton A Publication o f the Ramsey County Historical Society —page 13 Spring 2011 Volume 46, Number 1 “A Gentle, Kind Spirit Whose Life Was Art” Jean Sanborn Gross: Artist, Painter, and Printmaker Eileen R. McCormack, page 3 In February 1943 St. Paul artist and printmaker Jean Sanborn made the drypoint print Moto Perpetuo. The scene is the intersection of Selby and Western avenues in St. Paul. When she exhibited it later that year, it won a prize and is her most acclaimed print. Photo courtesy o f Jennifer H. Gross. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Executive Director Priscilla Famham Founding Editor (1964-2006) Virginia Brainard Kunz Editor John M. Lindley Volume 46, Number 1 Spring 2011 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE MISSION STATEMENT OF THE RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON DECEMBER 20, 2007: Paul A. Verret The Ramsey County Historical Society inspires current and future generations President Cheryl Dickson to learn from and value their history by engaging in a diverse program First Vice President of presenting, publishing and preserving. William Frels Second Vice President Julie Brady Secretary CONTENTS Carolyn J. Brusseau Treasurer 3 “A Gentle, Kind Spirit Whose Life Was A rt” Thomas H. Boyd Immediate Past President Jean Sanborn Gross: Artist, Painter, and Printmaker Norlin Boyum, Anne Cowie, Nancy Randall Eileen R. McCormack Dana, Cheryl Dickson, Charlton Dietz, Joanne A. Englund, William Frels, Howard Guthmann, Richard Heydinger, John Holman, Kenneth R. 13 For the Good of the Order Johnson, Elizabeth M. Kiemat, Rev. Kevin M. The Ad Man Becomes the “Senator from Ramsey” McDonough, Nancy McKillips, Susan McNeely, Debra Mitts-Smith, Laurie M. Murphy, Richard H. John Watson Milton Nicholson, Marla Ordway, Jay Pfaender, Jeffrey Slack, Ralph Thrane, Richard Wilhoit. 2 7 Book Reviews Directors Emeriti W. Andrew Boss Publication of Ramsey County History is supported in part by a gift from Richard T. Murphy Sr. Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen in memory o f Henry H. Cowie Jr. EDITORIAL BOARD and by a contribution from the late Reuel D. Harmon Anne Cowie, chair, James B. Bell, Thomas H. Boyd, John Diers, John Milton, Debra Mitts-Smith, Laurie M. Murphy, Paul D. Nelson, Richard H. Nicholson, Jay Pfaender, David Riehle, G. Richard A Message from the Editorial Board Slade, Steve Trimble, Paul A. Verret, Mary Lethert Wingerd. rom etchings to booya, this issue showcases two Ramsey county residents who HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD Fenriched our community in different ways—one privately, and one in a very pub­ William Fallon, William Finney, George lic manner. Jean Sanborn Gross, the daughter of Helen and Judge John B. Sanborn Latimer, Joseph S. Micallef, Marvin J. Pertzik, James Reagan, Rosalie E. Wahl. Jr., grew up with an aesthetic perspective that she nurtured by attending the St. Paul RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Gallery and School of Art, where she studied drawing and printmaking. Although her Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt, chair work was shown in other locations, her carefully-etched portraits of St. Paul show a Commissioner Tony Bennett sensitivity and awareness of the local world that she passed on to her children and Commissioner Toni Carter friends. Eileen McCormack’s portrait of Gross includes a description of her preferred Commissioner Jim McDonough Commissioner Rafael Ortega medium: drypoint etching. On the other hand, Nick Coleman, the former Minnesota Commissioner Jan Parker State Senate majority leader, enjoyed a long public career, starting with his first elec­ Commissioner Janice Rettman tion to the senate in 1962. His family and friends jumped in to produce an effec­ Julie Kleinschmidt, manager, tive grassroots campaign that included phone banks and lawn signs, which helped Ramsey County Coleman defeat another longtime, Irish-Catholic senator. John Milton’s article on Ramsey County History is published quarterly by the Ramsey County Historical Society, 323 Coleman furnishes a recipe for a time-honored political fundraising meal—booya! Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, S t Paul, MN Enjoy the stories. 55102 (651-222-0701). Printed in U.S.A. Copy­ Anne Cowie, right© 201 1, Ramsey County Historical Society. ISSN Number 0485-9758. All rights reserved. Chair, Editorial Board No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission from the publisher. The Society The exhibit, programming, and article on Jean Sanborn Gross are supported by the assumes no responsibility for statements made by generous support of Jennifer H. Gross, with assistance from her brothers, John and contributors. Fax 651-223-8539; e-mail address: [email protected]; web site address: www.rchs.com Richard Gross. 2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY For the Good o f the Order The Ad Man Becomes the “Senator from Ramsey” John Watson Milton John Milton has written a book-length biography of the late Minnesota Senate college. Two years after their second son, Majority Leader Nicholas D. Coleman, For the Good of the Order, to be published Patrick Kevin, was bom in 1952, their first later this year. A St. Paul native and former state senator, Milton is a member of the daughter, Maureen Bridget, arrived. Once Ramsey County Historical Society’s Editorial Board and author of the award-win­ again, the young family was shaken when ning historical novel The Fallen Nightingale; a political novel—Time to Choose; the afterword for Senator Allan Spear’s memoir Crossing the Barriers; and the lead Maureen died of leukemia before her third article in the Spring 2009 issue of Ramsey County History. This article is excerpted birthday. “My heart was broken,” Bridget from Chapter 4 of Milton’s biography o f Coleman. said many years later, and Nick, whose witty remarks and zest for living had pre­ ick Coleman was bom on February 23,1925, the oldest child of David vailed through earlier setbacks, was so pro­ and Hannah Coleman, who lived at the time in an apartment on the foundly staggered by grief that he would Nwestern edge of St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood. Given that loca­ tion, their Irish heritage, and Catholic faith, the Colemans were parishioners of St. Columba Church, founded in 1914. Young Nick attended the St. Columba grade school and Cretin High, from which he graduated in 1942. Following service as a Navy signalman in the Pacific during World War II, he returned to St. Paul and, thanks to the G.I. Bill, attended the College of St. Thomas. He graduated in 1949 and was elected “Mr. Tommy,” the most popular member of the senior class. While at St. Thomas, he got his first taste of politics when Eugene McCarthy, a professor at the college, ran for and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. During the McCarthy campaign, exciting, even glamorous—as portrayed in Coleman met the late Bridget Finnegan, the work of large agencies along Madison a bright, Irish-American pre-med student Avenue in New York—and the so-called at Macalester College. After their wed­ “ad men” were far better paid than small­ ding at St. Mary of the Lake (White Bear town high school teachers. But Coleman’s Lake), the young couple moved to Tyler, successful start was interrupted by spinal a small town in southwestern Minnesota, meningitis, which nearly killed him. “I where Nick had accepted a teaching job at barely lived through it,” he’d later recall, S e r g e a n t NICHOLAS D. COLEMAN the high school. After two years in Tyler, “but recovered sound of mind and body— With his overwhelming personality, during which time their son, Nicholas some say—and then went on.” 1 His doctor level head, and his great “line”, Nick Joseph, was bom, Nick concluded that told Bridget that when people were that should go far in his ambition to be a journalist. he was not cut out to be a teacher, and, sick they could not communicate, but she Debate, ’41, ’42 . Glee Club, ’40, ’41 longing to be back with their family and remembered that Nick never stopped mak­ C.S.M.C., ’39, ’40, ’41 . Dramatics, friends in St. Paul, the Colemans returned ing witty remarks and cracking jokes. “He ’40, ’41 . N.R.A., ’38, ’39 . Signal Corps, ’42 . Comment Staff, ’41, ’42 to the capital city. had such a great zest for living, so he never Choral Society, ’42 ... Chemistry Club, Nick’s first commercial job, with North gave up.”2 ’42 . Bowling, ’41, ’42 Central Publishing, was as a printing sales­ Soon after Nick’s recovery, Bridget’s man. Within four months, he caught the at­ mother died, leaving a seven-year-old Nick Coleman’s 1942 yearbook photo at tention of Kerker-Peterson & Associates, a daughter, Michelle, whom the Colemans Cretin High School. He later recalled being one of the few seniors that year who was small ad and art firm, who hired him as a took in along with her father, Abe Levinson, not promoted to officer in the school’s ROTC salesman. The world of advertising, espe­ second husband of Bridget’s mother; they unit. Photo courtesy of Cretin-Derham Hall cially during its postwar heyday, was more raised Michelle until her graduation from High School. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 13 later say that Maureen’s death was one of else he was asked to sell). Much of his the greatest losses of his life. time was devoted to cold calls, though he Once again, the Colemans recovered was salaried, not on commission. When from tragedy and their family grew with he left Kerker-Peterson four and one- Brendan Xavier, bom in 1957, Meghan half years later, he had been promoted Bridget (“Micki”), who arrived two years to sales manager.