David Coolidge: A Tribute     4/3/2002

David Coolidge: A Tribute

The following is adapted and amplified from a statement made by Culture & Family Institute Director at the “Celebration of Life” held for David Allen Coolidge, Jr., at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Falls Church, Virginia, on March 14. Coolidge, director of the Marriage Law Project, succumbed to brain cancer March 10, leaving behind a wife and four children.

Everyone has someone who, when you think of him, brings a smile. David Coolidge was that someone for a lot of people, including me. David was a serious man with a lighthearted manner. Although he tackled perhaps the most contentious issue of our time, homosexual activism, he did so with such grace and honesty that even his opponents acknowledged it. No matter how nasty they got — and some could really dish it out — David never returned it in kind. He unfailingly represented Our Lord by loving his enemies even as he worked against their agenda.

America lost a quiet hero when David Coolidge went home to be with the Lord on March 10 at the age of 45. As director of the Marriage Law Project, David was a tireless warrior for the preservation of marriage. He also was a faithful husband and father, and a good friend to many.

I sometimes asked Dave how it was that we found ourselves defending marriage. After all, it seemed so basic that the next job undoubtedly would be defending the Law of Gravity. He would shrug, throw his head back and laugh. Other times, I would quote an outrageous statement that one of our opponents made. “How can they say this? Can they say this?” I would ask in exasperation. David would just laugh and say, “Yeah, they can and they do!” Then the Coolidge grin, shrug and gentle chuckle.

During the darkest days in Vermont, David was on the road, chronicling the Green Mountain State’s plunge into counterfeit (“gay”) marriage and its citizens’ growing resistance. Many of us depended on his excellent reports, banged out from his hotel room on his laptop. Earlier, David was in Hawaii and Alaska, aiding and abetting pro-family forces and reporting on the eventual constitutional amendments in those states that preserved marriage as the union of one man and one woman. As Christian columnist Michael McManus pointed out, David not only fought the good fight, but was largely successful.

With malice toward none and charity toward all, David did his job with class and diligence.

In the St. Crispin’s Day speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V, the troops are given a rousing reminder of the glory they were about to enter, and the power of comradeship. Henry inspires his troops as “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” Well, we have lost a brother and shall miss him greatly. But I shall also smile every time I think of David; that’s not going to change.

HOW TO HELP
Dave left a wonderful wife, Joan, and four children — Daniel, Samuel, Rosalind and Jessica. A Web site chronicling Dave’s last days includes touching testimonies about David.

Donations for the family can be sent to: The Knights of Columbus (please put “David Coolidge Fund” in the memo line), Attention: Michael Mancino, 2077 Madrillon Road, Vienna, VA 22182.

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