Frank "Spunky" Coughlin

1943 - 2020

(News story) Frank "Spunky" Coughlin, an Oregon police officer who won the trust of young people by offering direction and lending an ear, died Tuesday in ProMedica Bay Park Hospital, Oregon. He was 77.

He had kidney failure, his wife, Millie Coughlin, said.

His childhood nickname became the only name many people knew.

"He's always been Spunky," his wife said.

Officer Coughlin retired in 1997 after 26 years as an Oregon police officer. He was a juvenile officer and detective for much of his career.

"The one thing that made him good at what he did was he loved kids - teenagers, little kids," his son Tim said. "He talked about treating people fairly."

"He wanted to set them in the right direction," his wife said.

He directed safety and drug awareness programs in the Oregon schools. His real interest was teaching, he told The Blade in 1980. The Safety Town program he helped lead was a perfect match. Preschoolers for two weeks in the summer learned the rules of the road - plus playground and railroad crossing safety and fire prevention. On the miniature streetscape, Officer Coughlin directed young drivers as they pedaled Hot Wheels around a course at Starr Elementary School.

The children took a field trip to the police station, where they rode in a police van, got fingerprinted, and were shown a jail cell. At municipal court, they got to sit in the judge's chair. The experiences had an aim: to make youngsters realize their safety is important, Officer Coughlin said in 1980.

"If a kid has to cross the street, at least he'll be aware of looking both ways," Officer Coughlin said then.

Starting in the late 1970s, he had an office in Clay High School and mingled with students.

"I don't b.s. with the kids, and they know it," Officer Coughlin told The Blade in 1978. "Kids can tell whether you like them or not."

Part of his job was to have students realize, "He's a policeman, but he's an all-right guy," Officer Coughlin said then. The job also allowed him to offer perspective. Police might have broken up a group of friends on the corner, but it was in response to an elderly neighbor afraid of what the teens might do.

"In the old days, the cops told them to break it up, and if they didn't they were in trouble," Officer Coughlin said in 1978. "That's not the way I do it. I try to explain why I do things."

He'd previously worked for DuPont in West Toledo and the Libbey-Owens-Ford Co. in Rossford.

He was born Sept. 3, 1943, to Elizabeth and Malcolm Coughlin. He was a graduate of Waite High School, where he played football. In his midteens he became a boxer and competed in Golden Gloves bouts on the Glass Workers Local 9 team. He had several titles, including Golden Gloves 1960 novice champion.

His sons, Scott and Tim, took up the sport.

"He used to tell me, 'You have to control your emotions. You can't just hit hard back, or you'll get knocked out,'" said Tim, who advanced to compete in the 1992 U.S. Olympics trials.

Officer Coughlin played softball until age 53, taking the field with his sons, and golfed.

Until their grandchildren were school-age, he and his wife took care of them. And they followed their activities thereafter.

"He was so proud of all his grandkids when they played sports," son Tim said.

Surviving are his wife, the former Millie Yeager, whom he married Oct. 20, 1961; daughter Kimberly Coughlin; sons Scott and Timothy Coughlin; sister Donna Donofrio; eight grandchildren, and a great-grandson.

The family will receive friends from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Eggleston Meinert & Pavley Funeral Home, Oregon Chapel, where funeral services will begin at 11 a.m. Monday.

The family suggests tributes to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, or Toledo Area Humane Society, Maumee.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.