Christopher Coder

1955 - 2025

Christopher Coder
February 22, 2025
Christopher McNeal Coder, 69, died in Flagstaff, Arizona, after a sudden illness on Saturday, February 22, 2025.
Chris was born October 27, 1955, in Moline, Illinois, to Jack and Bev Coder. He attended United Township High School and Augustana College, where he studied geology, igniting a lifelong passion for deep history and the out of doors. He followed his love of geology and wilderness to Flagstaff, Arizona, to attend Northern Arizona University, where he earned a Masters' degree in anthropology.
Chris had a magical childhood in Hampton, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi River, surrounded by his extended family and ranging widely with his gang of friends. Tomato fights, canoeing and ice skating on the river, and minor mischief all figured prominently. This taught him how to do what he thought was right no matter the rules, a polite way of saying he had a healthy disrespect for authority. Once Chris made a friend, they were generally friends for life, and he still had many friends from this time in his life.
After a year working at Northwestern Steel and Wire in Sterling, Illinois (an experience he relished and told many stories about), Chris moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, to attend NAU and later to Bluff, Utah, to work with Abajo Archaeology. He loved survey and had a natural talent for seeing both the landscape as a whole and the tiniest of artifacts. He loved the beautiful, wild landscapes of the Four Corners, and he had many hilarious stories from this time. He remained firmly attached to the Bluff crowd for the rest of his life, and it became a tradition to spend Easter there with his family.
In 1990, Chris joined the archaeology staff at Grand Canyon National Park, conducting a survey of the Colorado River corridor. He later wrote a book about the findings from this work, An Archaeological Perspective of Human History at Grand Canyon.
It was during this time that he met his wife, Marcelle, and started his small family, which became the focal point of the remainder of his life. He was a devoted husband and father, the best girl dad ever to Hannah and Claire.
Chris began work with Yavapai Apache Nation as tribal archaeologist in the late 1990s; he was with the Nation until his death and had become deeply connected there. He uncovered and make sense of the complex history of the Nation through archival research, oral history, and archaeology, and he counted as a major success the completion of a 25-year process to affect a land exchange, paving the way for a water settlement-crucial to the future of the Nation.
Chris is survived by his wife of 33 years, Marcelle; daughters Hannah and Claire; brother Tad; sister Ellie (Dan Kosminsky); and many nephews, nieces and other beloved relatives and friends.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, George and Mary Ellen (Cook) McNeal, Harold William and Gertrude Marie (Duncan) Coder; parents, Jack and Beverly Coder; mother-in-law Adrienne (Hill) Glaeser.
There will be a celebration of his life on March 15, 2025, 1 p.m. at High Country Conference Center, Flagstaff, Arizona. In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to his favorite non-profits:
Xerxes Society: https://gifts.xerces.org
Grand Canyon Conservancy: https://www.grandcanyon.org
Verde Valley Archaeology Center and Museum: https://www.verdevalleyarchaeology.org
Memories and condolences can be shared online at www.norvelowensmortuary.com