Julia Gardiner Coleman

Obituary
FindAGrave

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jul 12 2022, 4:27:35 UTC

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dau of Henry Eglongton and Florence (Gayley) Montgomery By Joe Holley Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 16, 2007 Julie Montgomery Coleman, 85, who was working in Rome for the Office of Strategic Services during the city's liberation near the end of World War II and who later survived a harrowing plane crash in the Andes, died March 10 at George Washington University Hospital. She had suffered a stroke the day before while playing bridge at a friend's home.

Mrs. Coleman, a resident of the District, was born in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., and as a child lived with her family in Rome. While a student at Rome's Lycee Francaise, she developed an aptitude for languages and became fluent in Spanish, Italian and French. When her family returned to the United States, she became a student at St. Timothy's School in Stevenson, Md., graduating in 1939.

After receiving a bachelor's degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1943, she joined the OSS and worked in the Rome office under Capt. James J. Angleton, who would become the legendary chief of counterintelligence with the Central Intelligence Agency. Relying on her language facility, she did translation and interrogation as the OSS sought to identify Italian operatives collaborating with the Nazis.

While working in Italy, she met a captain in British Army Intelligence, Peter Seymour. They married and moved to Cuba, where he managed a sugar plantation. When he joined W.R. Grace in 1948, the couple moved to Lima, Peru.

In 1955, Mrs. Coleman and her husband were on a flight with W.R. Grace executives from Lima to Cuzco and then on to Machu Picchu when their plane crashed in the Andes. Her husband was badly injured. Although Mrs. Coleman suffered burns on her legs, she was able to barter with Indians who agreed to construct litters to transport the survivors down the mountain. They walked for two days before rescue parties found them. By then, Mrs. Coleman's husband had died of his injuries.

She moved to Washington in 1955, married again two years later and returned with her husband to Rome, where she lived from 1957 to 1963. From 1966 to 1970, she lived in Madrid. After her husband's retirement, the couple traveled extensively and maintained homes in the District and in Northeast Harbor, Maine, where Mrs. Coleman had spent summers since she was a child.

She was a gardener, a gourmet cook and an accomplished sailor. A passionate tennis player, she played doubles into her 80s. She also organized a children's storytelling program at Northeast Harbor's public library.

In addition, she maintained a lifelong connection to St. Timothy's School, serving on the alumni board of governors from 1966 to 1982 and as president of the board for six years. She was a trustee from 1977 to 1982 and a trustee emeritus until her death.

Survivors include her husband of 49 years, Francis I.G. "Fig" Coleman of Northeast Harbor; two sons from her first marriage, Peter Seymour and Christopher Seymour, both of Chappaqua, N.Y.; three children from her second marriage, Anne Coleman of North Yarmouth, Maine, Bruce Coleman of Rochester, N.Y., and Craig Coleman of Yarmouth; a sister; and 10 grandchildren.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Apr 2 2021, 1:37:12 UTC