Page 10 - Gold Star Sons of Georgetown Prep

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UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE
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1ST LIEUTENANT
HENRY B. “HANK” COAKLEY ’37
AUGUST 6, 1943 DAYTON, OHIO
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GEORGETOWN PREPARATORY SCHOOL
Henry B. Coakley from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was another of the Prep alumni who eventually became a pilot in the US Army Air Force. Like Harold Hirsch, he spent only his senior year (1936-37) at Prep. He came from a large (10 children), devoutly Catholic family closely tied to the Jesuits. His father, John Aloysius Coakley, served as president of the Automatic Sprinkler Corporation of America, was active in Catholic organizations in Cleveland, had a close connection to the Jesuits, and had sent Hank’s older brother, John ’31, to Georgetown Prep. Hank had attended Cathedral Latin School in Cleveland and the Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut, before arriving at Prep. His motive in transferring to Prep may have sprung from his desire to attend Georgetown University and his view of Prep as a feeder school to the university.
A versatile, strapping young man, Hank played tackle (offense and defense) for the varsity football team, and was
a member of Prep’s outstanding golf squad, and its tennis team. He also loved horses and had learned to play polo before coming to Prep. His extra-curricular activities included
serving as business manager of The Blue and Gray and as associate editor of The Little Hoya. In the midst of studies, athletics, and extracurriculars, Hank cultivated the spiritual dimension of his life, singing in the school choir under the direction of the master musician/artist, Brother Alfredo Oswald, S. J., and joining both the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception and the St. John Berchmans altar boy society. As a sodality member, he faithfully received Holy Communion at daily Mass, a devotion he continued for the rest of his life.
Hanks grades were good and his charm even better. He received a lot of friendly ribbing in the pages of The Little Hoya about the number of notes he received from young ladies. In the senior edition of The Blue and Gray, which served as the seniors’ yearbook, Hank was chosen as the second “Best Dressed” man in the senior class, the second “Best-Looking,” the 3rd “Best Romeo,” and the 4th best “Man About Town.” His “peach-fuzz complexion” was bestowed by the senior class “will and testament” to an underclassman.
Hank was high spirited and fun loving, as seen during the variety show staged by students as part of the Halloween
COURTESY, ELIZABETH KENNEDY CORRIGAN DOLCE