John Coghlan '68 cycles to support a former classmate...

John Coghlan '68 cycles to support a former classmate...

John Coghlan '68 decided a number of months ago to challenge himself physically while at the same time honoring two of his very best friends in life who died from AIDS - his Cate classmate Clark Henley and a mutual friend of Clark and John, Tom Gardner (who attended RLS). He will participate in AIDS/LifeCycle ride June 1-7, 2008, joining cyclists and volunteers traveling 545 miles through beautiful California from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Like so many Cate alumni, John easily recalls details of his experience living at the School and the impact of the friendships he forged on the Mesa. In both in Lido and High House West, John and Clark had adjacent rooms and talked every night through those paper-thin walls. Or at least, every night when he wasn't out in the hall doing exercises under John Jordan's tutelage or racing out to the third field to get a leaf from some plant and beating his co-conspirator back. He vividly remembers Fish's Funeral: "Clark led the lengthy cortege, carrying his dead goldfish on a tasseled silk pillow, with me, Duncan, Davis, and others marching out to the burial grounds where Michael Ladner presided."

He remembers when Clark decided to run away from Cate. All the boys got very excited, and raised a few hundred dollars to finance him within a few minutes. John walked with him down to 101 and remembers watching Clark stand on the on-ramp at Casitas Pass Road, his thumb out to flag a ride. A car door opened, Clark entered, and off he went, headed for LA.

John recalls that when Clark got sick, there were repeated cycles of hospital stays that were extraordinarily difficult followed by miraculous periods when it seemed the disease was in relative remission. John and Clark grew ever closer as he tried to keep his friend’s spirits up and to help the family.

Like so many people who have lost family or friends to this devastating virus, John says, "I miss Clark and Tom tremendously. While I'm so grateful for their friendship and the joy they brought to the lives of so many, I cannot help but think of what might have been, what further they could have added to the world."

John's ride will both honor Clark and Tom and support the SF AIDS Foundation. Please click here to see John's website, support his efforts and to honor these young men.