Max Coyle, who maintained law and order in the lunchtime cafeteria line – but who also greeted us with his loving basso, “Hi, Friend!” – died Saturday, Feb. 7. He was 96. You can read Mr. Coyle’s death notice here.
While his presence in the cafeteria was formidable, Max Edward Coyle is most remembered as a friendly, warm and good man. He taught science. “Mr. Coyle was my homeroom teacher,” classmate Vicki Shepard Powers writes, “and I never think of the Woodward lunchroom that I don't remember his smiling face and friendly ways. He was one of the really good guys.”
Bye, Friend!
MAX EDWARD COYLE ...
... 96, of Cincinnati, passed away Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015. Retired School Teacher with the Cincinnati Public Schools with 36 years of service. He was a World War II Navy Veteran. Survivors include his wife of 71 years, Marjorie Jane Buehren Coyle. Survived by a host of nieces, nephews, family and friends. Funeral services 1:00 P.M. Wednesday, February 11, 2015, at the Gwen Mooney Funeral Home, 4389 Spring Grove Ave. Friends may call at the Funeral Home one hour prior to the services, with burial at Spring Grove Cemetery. www.springgrove.org.
I had Mrs. Coyle in the 6th grade for English at Hartwell. She was soft spoken but commanded the room. A real lady and so intelligent. One winter day as we sat in her classroom someone looked out the window and saw Johnny George shovelling snow from his father's car lot. We started to act up and Mrs. Coyle took charge......as she peered out the window at Johnny. It was the first time I saw Mrs. Coyle in a much different way, not as the teacher, but in some odd way understanding the event and possible concequences for a classmate. Maybe Johnny learned more that day (duty) than the rest of us. Later in the year I learned we could get her husband, Mr. Coyle at Woodward. A brute, giant, mean teacher. We even heard his name was "Max". It sounded worse! I escaped his class until the 8th grade when I was assigned to his Science class. He wore white short sleeve shirts and bowties. It took a few weeks before I understood how wrong the rumors were....as they usually are anyway. He loved kids and wanted all of us to do our best. He gave to us what many of us needed as young teenagers trying to find role models. That Mr. and Mrs. Coyle lived together this long, taught school and impacted 1000s of us is a tribute to their character, love and mariage. I was made aware that Mr. Coyle was the Navy Fleet Divison boxing champion after he had passed. Yes, he must have been a tough guy (where it counted)!
I remember Mr Coyle walking around the lunchroom saying, "Hiya, Friend!" to everyone he saw. I had him for 8th-grade Science, and I remember building the little battery-powered "spinners" in the class.
The service this afternoon for Max was a loving tribute. Many of his neighbors and a few former students from his Hartwell years spoke - their stories gave me a fuller picture of the man away from school. His wife was there in a wheelchair, has had a few strokes I was told, but she seemed quiet, subdued but attentive to what the chaplain said and comments from those who volunteered to speak. Wanda Lunsford had signed the visitor book a few names before mine, but I didn't see her unfortunately, so apparently she left before the service. I'm sort of surprised to hear of those who remember Max's "Hi, friend" from the lunchroom ("The Meridien Room" for dances, remember?) Then I realized I wasn't in the student lunchroom very often, so my memory is of him from the front hall in the morning. Big man, big voice, big heart. I guess they were able to stay together at home on Compton till last Fall, but had to be separated (for the first time) by different floors when they entered a care facility because of their different needs. He was one of the giants at X - kind of like Jennie Fine with her paddle - I can remember her standing at the stair case in the wing with history and science classes, the wing that went toward Reading Rd. She was saying to no one in particular, certainly not to me, slapping her paddle against her hand - "My motto is start the year tough and end the year tough". Ah. memories!
This was sad news for sure. He was always on our side. One of his favorite tricks was breaking a pencil with a dollar bill. Hope I'm not the only one that remembers that. Bob
Everett McIntosh
I had Mrs. Coyle in the 6th grade for English at Hartwell. She was soft spoken but commanded the room. A real lady and so intelligent. One winter day as we sat in her classroom someone looked out the window and saw Johnny George shovelling snow from his father's car lot. We started to act up and Mrs. Coyle took charge......as she peered out the window at Johnny. It was the first time I saw Mrs. Coyle in a much different way, not as the teacher, but in some odd way understanding the event and possible concequences for a classmate. Maybe Johnny learned more that day (duty) than the rest of us. Later in the year I learned we could get her husband, Mr. Coyle at Woodward. A brute, giant, mean teacher. We even heard his name was "Max". It sounded worse! I escaped his class until the 8th grade when I was assigned to his Science class. He wore white short sleeve shirts and bowties. It took a few weeks before I understood how wrong the rumors were....as they usually are anyway. He loved kids and wanted all of us to do our best. He gave to us what many of us needed as young teenagers trying to find role models. That Mr. and Mrs. Coyle lived together this long, taught school and impacted 1000s of us is a tribute to their character, love and mariage. I was made aware that Mr. Coyle was the Navy Fleet Divison boxing champion after he had passed. Yes, he must have been a tough guy (where it counted)!
Ira Zimmerman
I remember Mr Coyle walking around the lunchroom saying, "Hiya, Friend!" to everyone he saw. I had him for 8th-grade Science, and I remember building the little battery-powered "spinners" in the class.
Paul Hendrick
The service this afternoon for Max was a loving tribute. Many of his neighbors and a few former students from his Hartwell years spoke - their stories gave me a fuller picture of the man away from school. His wife was there in a wheelchair, has had a few strokes I was told, but she seemed quiet, subdued but attentive to what the chaplain said and comments from those who volunteered to speak. Wanda Lunsford had signed the visitor book a few names before mine, but I didn't see her unfortunately, so apparently she left before the service. I'm sort of surprised to hear of those who remember Max's "Hi, friend" from the lunchroom ("The Meridien Room" for dances, remember?) Then I realized I wasn't in the student lunchroom very often, so my memory is of him from the front hall in the morning. Big man, big voice, big heart. I guess they were able to stay together at home on Compton till last Fall, but had to be separated (for the first time) by different floors when they entered a care facility because of their different needs. He was one of the giants at X - kind of like Jennie Fine with her paddle - I can remember her standing at the stair case in the wing with history and science classes, the wing that went toward Reading Rd. She was saying to no one in particular, certainly not to me, slapping her paddle against her hand - "My motto is start the year tough and end the year tough". Ah. memories!
Paul Hendrick
OOPS! I meant one of the giants at Woodward, not X. Mea culpa. But I'm old. Paul
Robert Bob Wilkinson
This was sad news for sure. He was always on our side. One of his favorite tricks was breaking a pencil with a dollar bill. Hope I'm not the only one that remembers that. Bob