John Craig Coolidge

1952 - 2003  (50 years)

• Name	John Craig Coolidge
  Birth	13 Sep 1952	Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts   [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  History	According to his obituary, "He grew up in Petersham in the 1950's and 1960's. He was raised on the Carter Hill Farm. There he gained his life-long love of the outdoors and the environment. He also learned the virtues of hard work and determination, which formed the core of his New England Yankee spirit. He was a 1970 graduate of Mahar Regional High School in Orange where he was active in school politics, athletics, and the outstanding music program there in the late 1960's. Coolidge earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., in 1974. From 1979 to 1983 he lived in Boston where he earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School. Immediately following graduation from law school, he went to work at the Massachusetts State House where he served as Special Council to the Special Committee on Comparable Work, a select senate committee looking at issues of equal pay for equal work that were being explored in the 1980's. It was during his time in Boston that he met his future wife, Christina. They were married in 1985. Coolidge left the State House and began the full-time practice of law in Fitchburg. He moved to New Salem and opened a law office in Orange. In 1989, the Coolidge's adopted their three children from Costa Rica. After a time, he gave up his primary law practice to focus on family and public service, although he did continue providing legal counsel on a pro bono basis. He served two terms as selectman in New Salem, from 1986-1988 and again from 2002 to the present. He was a member of the New Salem School Committee from 1990 to the present and was a past chair of that committee. He was also a member of the Erving Elementary Union 28 School Committee, which he chaired for ten years in the 1990's. Coolidge was on the boards of directors of the Franklin County Regional Housing Authority and the Regionalization Study Committee, and he was the New Salem representative to the Franklin County Rural Transit Authority. He was passionate in his commitment to mental health services and served as a board member of Clinical and Support Options Inc. in Greenfield and the United ARC of Franklin and Hampshire Counties. He and his family were actively involved with the Special Olympics. He was a percussionist known to musical audiences throughout central Massachusetts. He was a member of the Orange Community Band, the Petersham Brass Band, the Ashby Band, the Narragansett Community Band, and several other musical groups. He was well known for his entertaining use of unusual percussion instruments and humorous props in the back of the band. He was also an amateur actor having appeared in plays in high school and then again in summer musicals at the Theater at the Mount in Gardner."   [2]
  Death	11 Aug 2003	Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts   [2, 3, 4, 5]
  	Agency: UMass Memorial Medical Center
  	Cause: a heart attack he suffered at home
  Burial	17 Aug 2003	East Street Cemetery, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts   [2, 3]
  		Gravestone of John Craig Coolidge
  Siblings	2 Siblings
  + 1. John Craig Coolidge,   b. 13 Sep 1952, Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts d. 11 Aug 2003, Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts  (Age 50 years) + 2. Curtis Allen Coolidge   3. Susan Martha Coolidge,   b. 1 Jun 1959, Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts d. 11 May 1976, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts  (Age 16 years)
  Person ID	I604	| Clan of Jonathan, Tribe of Peter
  Last Modified	17 May 2020

  
  

  Father	Horace Ober Coolidge, Jr.,   b. 24 Jun 1924, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts d. 16 Jan 2010, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts (Age 85 years)
  Mother	Doris Hildergard Nelson,   b. 15 Apr 1928, Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts d. 7 Apr 2012, Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts (Age 83 years)
  Marriage	17 Jul 1948	Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts
  Age at Marriage	He : 24 years and 1 month - She : 20 years and 3 months.
  Family ID	F278	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Christina Nell Lambert
  Children	1. Joseph Thomas Coolidge   2. Louis Carter Coolidge   3. Karen Maria Coolidge
  Family ID	F392	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	30 Apr 2014

  
  

• Event Map		Birth - 13 Sep 1952 - Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts Death - 11 Aug 2003 - Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts Burial - 17 Aug 2003 - East Street Cemetery, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

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• Sources

  [S386] Ruth, Mary. Descendants of Susan Carter Delvy, (Stoney Creek, North Carolina: manuscript, 2002). [S410] Obituary of John C. Coolidge #2, (Greenfield, Massachusetts: Greenfield Recorder, 14 August 2003). [S572] Find a Grave web site, (Provo, Utah: Find A Grave, Inc.). Find A Grave Memorial# 120773894 [S911] Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc). [S83] Social Security Death Benefit Records (SSDI), (Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011).