Russell Coleman

### Relationships

Debbie Nordoff, Samantha Strickland, Maddie Harrington, Melissa Strickland, Rachel Hedison,

*"That garbage can jumped out in front of me!" - Russell Coleman*

**Russell Coleman** is a local mechanic, car designer and long-time native of Ashford Falls, New York. His family is considered one of the native families of the area. Coleman Road is located where his great grandfather once had a farm. His father is Jack Coleman, the town's former resident mechanic, and his mother is Charlotte Coleman, a descendant of former mayor James B. Hood.

Born September 9, 1961, Russell was the older brother of William Coleman and Taylor Coleman. He attended Ashford Falls High School where he became known as a "big man on campus" because of his ability to challenge the authority of the teachers and staff, particularly Principal Cecil Borden, and to take jobs in the school's custodial routines. He was friends with Blake Hedison, the scion of the wealthy Hedison Family, Daniel Featherstone, Quentin Baldwin and Len Snedeker, a classmate he had befriended to protect from the local "bullies." Considering himself quite a "ladies man," he regularly dated Deborah Nordoff and possibly Tricia Caldwell. He dated Melissa Strickland for a while in order to get close to Melissa's sister, Samantha Strickland, but when Melissa learned this, she faked a pregnancy to get even with him. He also briefly wooed Diana Freeling, Helen Caldwell and Bobbi Pierce, but when he tried approaching Rachel Hedison, she coldly turned him down. For revenge, Russell later helped Melissa spirit off a coffin from the Conway Funeral Home for a practical joke against Rachel. She later started dating William Coleman, Russell's brother. Russell afterward had a long on-and-off again relationship with Deborah Nordoff.

Through high school, Russell worked at the Coleman Garage with his father off the town square, often joined by Len or Samantha. After graduating, he joined the Marines and did his basic training at Camp Lejeune, later serving at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, but a football injury from high school flared up and he was honorably discharged. By this point, his father's garage had closed down, and with help from Blake, Russell and Len opened a new garage out on Haverstraw Road. Becoming better known for designing and rebuilding muscle cars, Russell eventually opened his own business, Rus Customs, a hot rod and chopper customization and restoration shop. He often did custom work for the Hedison Family's cars and limo, detailed the police cars for the Ashford Falls Police Department and outfitted the cars in Daniel Waverly's taxi and ambulance services.

When Blake returned home from college to announce his betrothal to Caitlin Featherstone, Russell was one of the first people to learn about it and congratulate him. By this point, however, Daniel had soured on his opinions of the Hedisons, mostly after being snubbed by Rachel in high school but mostly because of treachery and impropriety in her family. He turned against Russell for siding against him with the Hedisons, but then Russell decided to allow Rachel's step-brother, Ty Hedison, to preside briefly in the attic of his shop during his return, a fact that further exacerbated his friendship with Daniel. In order to sow further contempt between Blake and Daniel, Rachel staged a relationship with Russell, passing dissension between them to break up Daniel and Caitlin, but Russell eventually realized the truth and learned to avoid her. While his friendship with Daniel improved, his friendship with Blake started to grow distant.

After Sheriff Lionel Taft retired, Russell attempted to improve his relationship with David Carmichael, the former deputy now turned sheriff. Because of his repeated traffic infractions with Taft, Coleman had been unable to open his shop in Ashford Falls, and by befriending Truman, he had hoped to get good faith to move his shop to Ashford Falls. However, Russell soon started coming to odds with Lou Riley, a local private investigator connected to the more covert sinister deeds of the Hedisons. Riley had helped Bud Mason abscond with Russell's prized 1963 Chevrolet Corvette. To get it back, Russell appealed to Truman for help in tracking it down and clashed with Riley at Dirty Irene's over his involvement in the theft. Sadly, years later, Mason ditched the car in Winchester Lake to keep from getting caught with it.

During the Winter of 1988, Russell accidentally plunged his 1962 Monte Carlo into the waters near Ashford Falls Scenic Lookout and spent much of the winter fighting tuberculosis as a result. During his recuperation, he tried wooing and dating Dr. Elizabeth Freeling, but she refused his advances. Russell soon developed a series of public pranks with Daniel and Melissa's help to intrigue Truman. That Christmas, he left a crashed sleigh surrounded by the outlines of eight missing deer in Ashford Falls Town Square, he paid ten actors (including Jason Pryde and Marcia Caldwell) to play zombies wandering out of the Kirkeby Cemetery (nearly causing a hysteria), he accidentally increased the local rabbit population after losing twelve domesticated rabbits in Owens Woods and he parked a giant fake flying saucer in Carl Griggs's parking spot at the Ashford Falls Courthouse. After Len outted himself as a cross-dresser during the Second Bicentennial Founders Day, Daniel and Russell tricked Dr. Paul Kirkwood into dating Len as a woman, a prank that backfired when Len learned about their duplicity. Len and Russell also suggested the property that the Worsham's Restaurant was being built on was sacred Native American burial grounds in order to stop it from being built and protect Dirty Irene's. They also came by after night pretending to be ghosts until Truman caught them and had them arrested. Both incidents became part of the dream continuity of Carter Hedison concerning Rachel. In that hallucination, Rachel hired Len to impair the brakes on her father's limo to kill him, but Russell discovered the sabotage and Rachel had him eliminated by supposedly mystical means.

In the real world, Russell got a job as a city mechanic on the police cars and school buses in Ashford Falls as business in his shop decreased. He tried to once again woo Samantha Strickland and Dr. Freeling before renewing his relationship with Deborah Nordoff, the two of them eventually sharing an apartment at the Owens Apartment House. However, they split up during the 1995 Mayoral race where Deborah supported Sabrina Collins and Russell supported Carl Griggs. During the break, Russell almost rebounded with Melissa Strickland, who had been seeing his brother, William, on and off since high school. but after the election, he and Deborah renewed their relationship.