Home Page
Photogallery
Monica Memories
|
Monica
Coash
We are building a website to honor Monica's very full life.
Please enter memories here: http://www.regathon.com/monicacoash
Obituary.
COASH -- Monica Ann Coash, 48, passed
away
peacefully on Saturday, April 15, 2006 at her home in Albuquerque
surrounded by her loving family. Monica is survived by her parents,
John and Lois Coash of Albuquerque; sister, Mary Jo Coash McCully of
San Jose, CA; brother, Peter Coash and wife Lori of Estancia; brother,
Pat Coash and wife, Melissa of Aptos, CA; nieces, Claire and Elise
Coash of Aptos, CA; nephew, Christopher Coash of Estancia; her special
friend, Robert Lucero; her dogs, Katie and Maggie; many aunts, uncles,
cousins, and numerous friends. Monica was born in Manhattan, KS on
October 1, 1957 and moved to Albuquerque in 1960. She attended
Annunciation School, Madison Mid School, Sandia High School, and the
University of New Mexico where she was a member of Chi Omega Sorority
and graduated summa cum laude. Monica began her life long teaching
career by setting up a classroom in her backyard playhouse and having
her sister and brothers as students. She taught Summer Spirit at
Annunciation School and began her first teaching position in Grand
Junction, CO. After returning to Albuquerque she taught gifted students
at Chelwood Elementary and Eisenhower Middle School. In 1989 she
returned to her alma mater, Sandia High School, where she was a teacher
of the gifted, an exchange teacher to Russia, the tennis coach and
recipient of the prestigious Javitis Grant. In addition, she taught
part time at the Career Enrichment Center and was the State Director of
Future Problem-Solving for the past 15 years. After retiring from
teaching last year Monica spent time traveling, going to the gym,
becoming an avid bridge player, organizing FPS State Bowl, lunching
with friends, preserving fruits and salsa, and volunteering at the
Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. Monica was a loving daughter and
sister, caring friend, devoted teacher, student advocate, and a unique
human being. She always put the needs of others before her own.
Everyone should have gotten the chance to know and love her. She is an
inspiration to us all. A Rosary will be recited on Wednesday, April 19,
2006 at 6:30 p.m. at the Risen Savior Catholic Community, 7701 Wyoming
Blvd. NE 87109. The Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, April
20, 2006, 10:00 a.m., also at Risen Savior. Immediately following will
be burial at Gate of Heaven Cemetery. In lieu of flowers Monica
requested donations to be sent to The Community Breast Health Project,
390 Cambridge Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306. French Mortuary, Inc. 7121
Wyoming Blvd. NE (505) 823-9400
Published on April 19, 2006
DEVOTED TEACHER EMBRACED LIFE, COOKING, PROBLEMS By Jan Jones
Monica Coash
was born a teacher. As a child, she set up a classroom in her
backyard
and made her siblings be her students. She never stopped teaching
and
she mastered more than one curriculum.
Coash, 48, died from liver
cancer on April 15 at her home in Albuquerque.
She was state director of Future
Problem
Solving, an organization that teaches a six-step process of solving
problems. The process espouses that
there is "never one answer. There are at least 20
solutions to every problem," said
Paige Galvin, fellow teacher at Sandia High School
and friend for more than 20 years. Coash
used that process in her personal life and employed it to help others,
Galvin said. Whatever obstacle came up, she was always able to look
at it from a variety of viewpoints and discard the solutions that might
not be the best for her or for the one involved.
As a teacher of gifted students at
Sandia until her retirement in July, Coash was a role model for
young women, said her sister, Mary Jo Coash-McCully. " She
taught them
they didn't need to have a man in their life, to celebrate their
intelligence, to be confident and not be dependent on others to make
decisions for them," McCully said.
It wasn't only the girls she
encouraged. Two young men who were her former students came to
Albuquerque from Dallas while Coash was hospitalized, McCully
said. They visited her, stayed for several days and supported her
by
doing things that typically only family and nurses take on.
" I don't
know about you," McCully said, "but there's not
a teacher in the world I'd do that for."
Her penchant was more than
motivational.. She liked food, cooking and parties. Coash
had a garden where she grew vegetables, using them in salsa that
she canned. McCully
said the family joked about bottling it and calling it "Do or Die
Salsa." She could take a few things out of the refrigerator and
cupboards and make a complete meal with what appeared to be little
effort. "She could turn anything into a gourmet meal. She
loved
cooking for friends and students", Galvin said. "She expressed
herself
and her creativity in the foods she made."
On Thursday after her funeral, Coash's
family and friends followed her wishes. They had a margarita
party with chips and some of her salsa. For a few hours, the
crying was halted and the stories of Coash's life spilled over,
sprinkled with laughter. It was, McCully said,exactly the way
her sister wanted it.
|