Dr. John T. Coppom

He was born April 22, 1939 to Gregory Edward Coppom and Mary Devota (Black) Coppom in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At age 3 ½, his family moved to Denver where he received his early education. He graduated from Holy Family High School in 1957 and enrolled in St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston, Texas, beginning an eight-year program for the priesthood within the College of Theology. After much soul-searching, he concluded his future was not as a priest and transferred to Regis College in Denver, graduating with a Classical B.A. in Psychology, History, Philosophy and Education. In 1968, he received his M.A. degree in Counseling and Psychology from the University of Colorado-Boulder. In Colorado, John taught at Coeur d’Ars Elementary and Ranum High School.

In 1967, he moved to Corcoran, California and worked as a high school counselor and Director of Activities. Concerned that most students could not see a future for themselves, he raised the most money in the school’s history to help them attend higher education. Upon learning Grambling State University was in danger of losing its federal funding if it didn’t integrate, he contacted the school and placed eleven students there. A movie, “The White Tiger”, was made about Corcoran’s quarterback, Jim Gregory, and his experiences at Grambling.

In 1969 he moved to Wisconsin State University – Eau Claire to work as a counselor. There he met the new voice teacher in the Music Department, Charmaine Purdy, and in 1970 they were married. They moved to Ohio University where he began his studies in Administration, Management Systems, Behavioral Systems Analysis and Counseling while working full-time in student programing and developing behavioral objectives for six departments in the University. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1978.

In Greeley, John served as the first Director and developer of the Weld County Youth Services Bureau. The following year he accepted the position of Chief Probation Officer, Nineteenth Judicial District, State of Colorado, and for eleven years supervised Adult Probation, Juvenile Probation, Alcohol Evaluations, Community Corrections and Useful Public Service.

In 1984, he and Harry Asmus created The Villa at Greeley, Inc., a private corporation providing housing alternatives for senior citizens, veterans and non-violent felony offenders. The Villa eventually added many assistance programs and became a model for similar projects in Colorado and the nation.

John was a strong advocate for Greeley and contributed to its professional and cultural growth in many ways. He served as a member of the Jail Committee for Weld County that designed and programmed the new jail, including a juvenile detention area; was an instructor in the Greeley Police Officer Training Program; president of the Probation Administrators’ Association of Colorado; member of the Governor’s Sentencing Taskforce; the Governor’s appointment to the Advisory Board for Community Corrections; member of the Accountability Committee for School District Six; member of the Salaries and Positions Committee, Colorado Association of Probation Officers in concert with the Colorado Judicial Department; one of five founding fathers of the National Association of Probation Administrators and Editor of its newsletter, The Executive Exchange.

He was a member of First Congregational Church of Greeley, UCC, serving terms as chair of the Board of Deacons, assistant moderator and moderator; a member and past-president of Social Science Circle and member and past-president of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra Board. A member of the Greeley Centennial Rotary Club, he served a term as president and was on numerous committees. His club named him 2017’s Rotarian of the Year. John is considered the “Grandfather” of the Poudre Learning Center’s new Prairie InSTEM Station building that was inaugurated in honor of the Greeley Centennial Rotary Club’s 40th anniversary and the Greeley Rotary Club’s 100th anniversary. During his final days he learned that the building’s conference room would be named in his honor. Nothing could have pleased him more.

Our family was truly blessed to have Dr. John Thomas Coppom as husband and father. He wrote this final message to us: “At whatever age a man dies, he should be able to say that his life was full, enjoyable, full of challenge, and a life with accomplishments and the inevitable failures. That he had made a difference in the world that was good. What a wonderful life I have lived. How blessed I have been with great family, friends and with such challenging changes all through life. On that basis, I could die anytime with pride.”

He was preceded in death by his parents, stepfather Graham Butler and brother, Edward. He is survived by his wife, Charmaine; their sons Michael Chadwick (Jessica) Coppom and Jonathan Chandler (Amanda) Coppom and grandchildren, Simone Isabella, Zadie Quinn and Paisley Frances; by brothers, James and Richard and beloved nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, January 20, 2018 at First Congregational Church of Greeley at 11:00 a.m. Reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to The Poudre Learning Center Foundation, 8313 West F Street, Greeley, CO 80631 (www.poudrelearningcenter.org) or in care of Allnutt Funeral Service, 702 13th Street, Greeley, CO, 80631. Please visit www.allnutt.com to send condolences to the family.