People named Marion Coles

Dr. Marion Evelyn Edwards Coles Birth 15 Mar 1915, Vermont, USA Death 6 Nov 2009 (aged 94), Rosedale, Queens County, New York, USA Burial Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum, East Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York, USA Plot Grave 2, Plot A, Range 65, Block 3, Section 20 Memorial ID 217724496 · View Source Tribute taken from M.A.D.D. Rhythms website: Dr. Marion Evelyn Coles, who was the leader and choreographer of “The Silver Belles” and wife of the late great Honi Coles, passed away. Marion Coles began her professional career as a member of the inimitable ballroom team, Taylor and Edwards. In the early thirties, she freelanced as a chorus line dancer before touring with Silas Green from New Orleans, a comedy and musical show that traveled throughout the South. During the mid-thirties, Ms. Coles was asked to join Ristina Bank chorus line, one of the most famous chorus lines in the black theater circuit. The group’s popularity led to a position as the Number 1 stock chorus line at the Apollo Theater. During the thirties and forties, she appeared with numerous bands, including those of Jimmy Lunceford, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Count Basie. From 1980 to 1986, Ms. Coles was a member of Jane Goldberg’s Changing Times Tap Company, which received rave reviews in the United States and Europe. Since 1986, she has performed with and served as Artistic Director of the Silver Belles, a group of former chorus line dancers who worked at the Apollo Theater and Cotton Club when Harlem was the mainstay of New York night life. Ms. Coles has been a featured artist in Jazz Talk at Lincoln Center; Shades of Harlem at the Schomburg Center for research in Black Culture; Hank Smith’s The Story of Tap at Dixon Place, Vaudeville 2000 at La Mama and educational presentations at Columbia University’s Center for Jazz Studies, the Musem of Natural History, Barnard College and Columbia University’s Jazz Study Group. She and the Silver Belles were featured in 1999 at the St. Louis Tap Festival. She has taught master classes and workshops at New York University, Queens College, Kingsboro Community College, the Dance Theater of Harlem, and Tulane University’s Jazz Dance Project 2000, where she was also a featured speaker. In May 1995, her choreography was showcased in the Queens College Spring Dance Concert. Ms. Coles has received awards from the New York Committee to Celebrate National Tap Dance Day (1992), International Women in Jazz, Inc. (1994), and the Oklahoma City University School of American Dance (2001). In 2002, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Queens College, City University of New York. Marion Coles is a featured dancer in the 2006 documentary Been Rich All My Life. Family Members Parents Hortense Elizabeth Freeman Edwards, 1896–1987 Spouse Charles "Honi" Coles, 1911–1992 (m. 1944) Siblings Kathryn E. Edwards Jones, 1916–1943 Children Charles Lester Coles, 1945–1947 1944, Charles "Honi" Coles married Marion Evelyn Edwards, a dancer in the Number One chorus at the Apollo Theater, and together, Coles and his wife had two children. On November 12, 1992, Charles "Honi" Coles passed away from cancer in Queens County, New York, aged 81. On November 6, 2009, his wife Marion Evelyn Coles died in Queens County, New York, at the age of 94.

Marion L Coles of El Segundo, Los Angeles County, CA was born on May 6, 1925, and died at age 78 years old on April 3, 2004.

Marion Coles of Kuttawa, Lyon County, Kentucky was born on June 26, 1916, and died at age 68 years old in May 1985.

Marion Coles of Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky was born on July 17, 1898, and died at age 85 years old in May 1984.

Marion S Coles of Stanton, Montcalm County, MI was born on July 4, 1909, and died at age 92 years old on December 24, 2001.

Marion Coles of Lynchburg, Lynchburg City County, Virginia was born on July 18, 1898, and died at age 66 years old in January 1965.

Marion Coles of Center Valley, Lehigh County, PA was born on July 9, 1894, and died at age 82 years old in August 1976.

Marion G Coles of Sun City Center, Hillsborough County, FL was born on December 24, 1916, and died at age 84 years old on August 28, 2001.

Marion H Coles of Shelton, Mason County, WA was born on December 31, 1920, and died at age 77 years old on December 25, 1998.

Marion M Coles was born on July 22, 1908, and died at age 82 years old on April 23, 1991. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Marion M Coles.

Marion Coles of Estero, Lee County, FL was born on May 16, 1917, and died at age 78 years old on January 31, 1996.

Marion Coles of Hewlett, Nassau County, NY was born on November 27, 1886, and died at age 83 years old in April 1970.

Marion Coles was born on July 8, 1891, and died at age 76 years old in June 1968. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Marion Coles.

Marion C Coles of New Milford, Litchfield County, CT was born on March 30, 1908, and died at age 96 years old on December 12, 2004.

Marion R Coles of Cambridge, Middlesex County, MA was born on September 22, 1900, and died at age 90 years old on January 5, 1991.

Marion Coles of Hyannis, Barnstable County, MA was born on December 28, 1906, and died at age 78 years old in January 1985.