Oliver Hill Coolidge, Jr.

Oliver Hill Coolidge, Jr., 91, died Monday afternoon   August 6, 2018  at Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers after a short illness. Born in New York City on March 13, 1927, he was the son of the late Oliver H. Coolidge, Sr. and Elizabeth (Ten Eyck Brooks) Coolidge of Bedford, N.Y. and Sandwich, N.H.

     Oliver attended the Groton School from which he received a war diploma for the Class of 1945. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps (later to become the U.S. Air Force) in 1944. He was chosen for training in conversational Chinese and then sent to Beijing as a USAAF air traffic controller. He returned to the U.S. in 1949 and served in public information offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City. Oliver took advantage of the WWII GI Bill to obtain a B.S. in Accounting from Columbia Graduate Studies in the mid-1950s. He was employed at First National Bank and later Chase Bank of Manhattan. 

            Oliver moved to Ipswich in the early 1970s while working in Boston. He created his own consulting company for small businesses and had numerous North Shore clients for many years.

     Oliver was a life-long member of the Comedy Club of New York City and played the lead role in a Newburyport Dinner Theater production of On Golden Pond in the 1980s. He was an avid model train enthusiast, a gardener, and a voracious reader of mystery novels. He owned and helped restore several vintage cars which he more than once drove in the Ipswich Fourth of July parade. In his later life he became a regular participant in a weekly poker game.

     Oliver was cared for in his illness by his beloved companion Nancy Hubbs, of Ipswich. He also leaves behind a brother, Henry Coolidge of Saucier, Miss., and two children: Peter Coolidge and his wife Sandy of Sandwich, N.H. and Liza Vaughn and her husband Bruce of Enfield, Conn. Other survivors include Charles Thompson of Gloucester and Rachel Thompson of Santa Fe, the children of his long-time partner Nancy Thompson who died in 2009. He is survived by five grandsons: Brian Coolidge, Lovell Thompson, Daniel Neafsey, Jedediah Dubiel, and Derek Vaughn, Staff Sargeant, U.S. Air Force; and three great-grandsons: Jack Neafsey, Colin Neafsey, and Victor Vaughn. Oliver had a second brother, Peter, who died in 1934 of pneumonia.

          A graveside service with military honors will be held at 11 o’clock on Saturday morning, August 18, at Cowles Memorial Cemetery, 29 Town Farm Road, Ipswich. All are invited to attend. In lieu of flowers a donation may be made to Kaplan Family Hospice House  78 Liberty Street Danvers, MA  01923.  Assisting the family is the Morris Funeral Home of Ipswich.  For directions or to send a condolence to the family please visit MorrisFH.com.

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