Gerald O. Coburn

1942 - 2011

(News Article) PANDORA, Ohio - A painter, sculptor, and photographer who as an art teacher helped students find their own creativity, Gerald O. Coburn died Monday in the Cleveland Clinic from complications of surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm. He was 69.

He and his wife, Laura, lived at the Quarry Farm, the nature preserve they established in Putnam County's Riley Township. The couple bought the land in the mid-1980s, including the farm where Mrs. Coburn grew up and an abandoned 19th-century limestone quarry.

"We decided to allow it to return to a wilderness state," his wife said.

Botanists from Kent State University have visited to examine the plant life, she said. Mr. Coburn catalogued and photographed more than 50 types of butterflies on the preserve. "He thought they were the most beautiful things on the planet," his wife said.

He retired in 1996 after 24 years at Elida High School, where he taught art, primarily painting and sculpture.

"He was kind of a master," said Emil White, retired as a teacher of design, drawing, graphics, and ceramics at Elida.

Mr. Coburn painted, mostly in acrylic. He could demonstrate drawing - "he was excellent at drawing," his wife said - and other skills students needed, but beyond giving general guidelines, he did not believe in assigning a project "and having them do it his way," his wife said.

"He believed in fostering creativity," she said. In pursuit of sculpture, students used conventional materials - except when he had them use cardboard boxes they'd scavenged or saved.

In 1982, he helped start an annual tradition at Elida High: Each graduating class painted a mural depicting highlights of that year, whether at school, in pop culture, or on the world stage. The high school moves into a new building this fall, and he regretted that the murals will be lost to the wrecking ball, his wife said, but was pleased that images of each mural will be preserved.

For most of his time at Elida, he was coach of the girls' gymnastics team. He took the team to the state championships several times, his wife said, and he coached at least one state champion gymnast.

Earlier, he taught social studies in the Leipsic Local Schools and art at Liberty Center High School. He also worked for the Boy Scouts of America in Mansfield, Ohio.

He was born March 1, 1942, in Caretta, W.Va., to Anvie and Arthur Coburn. His father was a coal miner, and the family later moved to eastern Kentucky. They settled in Lima, Ohio, when his father found work at Superior Coach, the manufacturer of school buses.

He showed artistic ability from an early age. His paternal grandmother, Lavisey Coburn, encouraged him and incorporated a drawing of his into a blanket she made.

"He never forgot that," his daughter, Anne, said.

He was a 1960 graduate of Bath High School, where he was a star running back on the football team and was a tumbler.

He received a bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University.

Before becoming ill in recent years, he ran many 10-kilometer races and two marathons and inspired his daughter's interest in the pursuit. She was inspired as well by his interest in the natural world.

"He taught me the connectedness of us to nature," his daughter said. She is a stream-quality monitor for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources - and she, her daughter, and husband rehabilitate injured wildlife.

Surviving are his wife, Laura, whom he married July 27, 1963; Anne Liza Coburn-Griffis; brothers, Bert and Dan Coburn; sister, Carolin Dion, and a granddaughter.

Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Friday in Love-Heitmeyer Funeral Home, Ottawa, Ohio.

The family suggests tributes to Riley Creek United Methodist Church, Pandora, Ohio.

Contact Blade staff writer Mark Zaborney at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.