John Coolidge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This biography does not cite any references or sources. (January 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
John Coolidge (September 7, 1906 – May 31, 2000) was the first son of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge and Grace Coolidge.
Coolidge went to Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania with his brother, Calvin Jr., and graduated in 1924. He was playing tennis with his brother on the White House grounds when Calvin suffered a blister on his toe, which became infected, resulting in his death a week later. John described the incident as producing a depression in his father that lasted the rest of his life. John then attended Amherst College, his father's alma mater, and graduated in 1928. In 1929 he married Florence Trumbull, daughter of Connecticut governor John H. Trumbull. He was an executive with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. He served as president of the Connecticut Manifold Forms Company until 1960, when he reopened the Plymouth Cheese Corporation in Plymouth at the historic village. He helped start the Coolidge Foundation and his gifts of buildings, land, and artifacts were instrumental in creating the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site.
While well into his 80's John Coolidge would still give the extremely rare interview or could be seen shuttling back and forth from his home near the Calvin Coolidge Historical Site to collect his mail at the old post office that still sits in the Historic Site. He was reported to still be a charming and excited talker who would still answer everyday people's questions about his father or his family.
He is survived by a daughter, son-in-law, three grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.