John William Koehring , 83, passed away on Sunday, September 16, 2018 in Virginia Beach, after several months of declining health. He was born in Syracuse, NY on November 13, 1934 , the son of Ralph William Koehring and Mary Imogene Prince. He spent his boyhood in Dewitt, NY, attending Moses DeWitt elementary school and high school in Fayetteville, NY where he played football and basketball. During those years he was an enthusiastic Cub Scout and Boy Scout, earning the rank of Eagle Scout and spending a summer at the Philmont Ranch in the southwest. It was during those adventurous scouting years that he developed his life long love of the woods, mountains, and camping. After graduating from high school in 1952 he entered Dartmouth College to graduate in the class of 1956. He played football and rugby at Dartmouth. He lived two years at Corey Ford’s house. Corey Ford established the Dartmouth Rugby Club, one of the first rugby clubs in the United States. He was also a fraternity member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. In addition to academics and sports, he worked at the Hanover Inn, where he learned the life skill of selecting and cutting meat.
While at Dartmouth, he was NROTC, and after graduating, worked at the Naval Observatory in DC, before transferring to deep sea diving in every major naval theatre of the world. He spent four years in the Navy before entering into foreign service training in preparation for a life of service with the Agency for International Development in sub-saharan Africa. Over the span of 45 years, he served in the Ivory Coast, the Congo-Brazzaville, Cameroon, Kenya, and the Sudan. Our father was an amazingly disciplined leader who cared deeply about his colleagues. The host government officials with whom he worked knew that they were fortunate to be dealing with a counterpart who was driven to achieve mutually desired outcomes. In 1985, he was awarded the Presidential Meritorious Service Award. He retired as a Career minister and a distinguished career diplomat. In retirement, he enjoyed a more tranquil life of fishing and bonfires in the Adirondacks and surf fishing on the Outer Banks.
He is survived by his wife Elizabeth Bready Koehring, his eldest son Joseph P. Koehring, his second born son John Fritz Koehring, his youngest son Ralph Vincent Koehring, who continues a family tradition of serving overseas as a foreign service officer, his loving sister, Gretchen Strong of Southwest Harbor, Maine, and six grandchildren: Caleb, Jacob, Kazimir, Josephine, Louisa, and Gideon.
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