Iris Olga Coleman, a founding member of the Polar Bears in Oak Bluffs, died Sunday, Feb. 4. She was 95.

She was born Dec. 23, 1928 in Boston and was raised in Roxbury by her parents, Eleanora L. Ware Jordan and Julius J. Jordan. She was the oldest of three daughters; her sisters were Betsey F. Harris Jordan and Eleanora Louise Jordan Washington, now both deceased.

She preferred her middle name, so she was known as Olga.

She graduated from the former Roxbury Girls High School. In 1951 she married Benjamin Coleman, now deceased, of Milton. They bought a home in West Medford and had one daughter, Linda.

In the late 1960s, she went to work for the Action for Boston Cmmunity Development (ABCD), a nonprofit that is an anti-poverty, community development and human services organization founded in 1961 as Boston Community Development Program. In the 1980s she joined IBM and retired in 1991.

As teenagers Olga and her sisters spent summers in Oak Bluffs. Olga and her longtime companion Stanley Maynard are featured in the book Finding Martha’s Vineyard, a narrative on the history of Black lives on the Island, by best-selling author Jill Nelson.

She was a founding member of the Polar Bears, a group of friends and acquaintances who went swimming very early in the morning and then went to Mrs. O’Brien’s bed and breakfast on Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs for coffee, doughnuts and conversation. Historically, Mrs. O’Brien’s was listed in The Green Book for Black vacationers; it is now known as The Tivoli Inn.

Olga is survived by her daughter, Linda L. Coleman; her nieces Lisa E. Harris Alleyne and her husband Derrick; Monique E. Harris Houston; great nieces Aja G. Houston and Jordan D. Harper; great nephews Marques and Avery Hardaway; Jonathan B. Houston and a host of cousins and friends.

She was also predeceased by two beloved nephews, Vardon J. Washington and Frederick J. Washington.

A memorial service is planned for July 2024 at Inkwell Beach in Oak Bluffs.