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John Coolidge has been in school most of his
life - as a student, teacher, and coach that is.
In 1966, John obtained his bachelor's degree
in social studies from Augustana College where he also competed
in track and cross country. Ten years later, he earned a
master's degree in a liberal arts program at Augustana designed
specifically for teachers in the Quad Cities.
John first taught at Eugene Field Elementary
in Rock Island. After one year there, he moved to
Edison Jr. High where he remained for the next ten years.
From Edison, he moved to West Campus, the new name for the old
Franklin Jr. High School, which housed only freshmen after the
schools were reorganized in the early 1980s in order to achieve
racial balance. John taught for five years at West Campus before
that school was closed, and the freshman class was moved to Rock
Island High School's main campus. At that time, a number of
teachers were "pink slipped," and John returned to Edison for
one year. However, he spent 17 out of his 34 teaching years
teaching social studies at Rock Island High School, and he was
the head of the social studies department for his last eight
years there. John enjoyed being a colleague of some of his
own high school social studies teachers during those years.
John shares that one of his high school
teachers and coaches, Wilbur "Strings" Allen, was a great
influence and inspiration in John's decision to become a
teacher. He also admired and respected coaches Hod Lundeen
and Ben Clark. It was Hod who called John and asked if he
would like to coach track and field at Edison Jr. High. John
then coached there for three years, followed by his becoming the
head track and cross country coach at Rock Island High School.
Cletus Melchior was another of John's inspiring teachers. Mr.
Melchior also taught at Augustana while John was there.
One of John's fondest high school memories was
being a member of the track and field team that won the 1961
state championship. He humbly states that he was just a
small part of that team at the time. This year will be the 50th
anniversary of that event. After coaching at the high
school for eight seasons, John led his own team to capture the
state title in 1989.
In October 1966, after two and one-half years
of dating, John married Linda Suman, a 1964 Moline High School
graduate. John and Linda were introduced by John's friend
and classmate, Bill Edmund, who was acquainted with Linda
through First Lutheran Church of Moline, where John and Linda
still attend today.
Linda was a secretary at Deere & Company until
their first child was born in 1970. She then turned her
attention to becoming a full-time mother. John reflects
that it was not easy making ends meet on a teacher's pay, but
today he and Linda are very thankful that she was able to be a
stay-at-home mom. Linda didn't work outside of the home again
until their three daughters were in junior high school.
Today she's back in the work world as a legal secretary four
days a week. John gives his wonderful wife all the credit
for raising three great daughters.
Their oldest daughter, Chris, lives in Zionsville, Indiana
and is the mother of 2-year-old Gabi and eight-month-old Ava. Chris was
Illinois state high jump champion while at Rocky and earned a scholarship to
Iowa State. Her husband was an athlete and was her supervisor during an
internship. He was also a strength and conditioning coach for the Indiana
Pacers. After deciding that they didn't want to be involved with the Pacers any
longer due to the demands it made on their lives, Chris and her husband built a
home with a training center in the basement and run their own training and
conditioning business. John tells us that they do very well.
Amy, John's middle daughter, is also an Augustana graduate
who held an internship at Bituminous Insurance Companies and remains with
Bituminous today as an auditor. Amy's twins, Andrew and Zachary, soon to
be seven, are John's charges daily after school. He picks them up and
takes them home from school. Baby brother, Nathan, joined this family on
June 30. John adds that last June was a pretty exciting month with the
birth of both Ava and Nathan.
Daughter number three, Lori, lives in Noblesville, Indiana,
not too far from her sister, Chris. Lori has her own graphic design business -
John says, "She's very good, even though I would say that as her father" - and
is single with no children. John adds that, with two of his daughters
running their own independent businesses, he's come to realize that it is not an
easy life.
When asked what he liked best about teaching in the Rock
Island-Milan School District for 34 years, John mentioned that, in his last
eight years, he held a "current events" class for which all the students were
given a subscription to Time Magazine and the Quad-City Times. The purpose
was to get them to become aware of what was going on across the nation and in
the world that was impacting their daily lives. They held class
discussions on their feelings on various issues and John remembers, "Even
kids who almost never spoke up in any class on anything would speak up on these
topics, and you could get inside their heads." He adds, "Teaching keeps
you young."
What he liked least about teaching was all the time it took
away from his family life. Between coaching two sports and teaching, John
laments that he was often up until 2 a.m. correcting papers and doing school
work. He emphasized that he is most appreciative of the loving care his
wife gave to their daughters and her support for him. He adds that they
were able to pack a lot of family fun into their summers.
John retired in 2000. He loves to golf and fish. For
their 40th wedding anniversary, he and Linda cruised the French Polynesian
Islands from Tahiti. They've also been to Mexico, Jamaica, and Hawaii, and
their bucket list includes Australia and New Zealand. They love warm-water
sports and hope to step up those kinds of travels in the future.
John is a member of the upcoming 50th reunion committee, so
I think we can expect to see him there. In the meantime, he would enjoy
hearing from friends and classmates at
Lcool105@aol.com.
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