Birth date: Aug 16, 1946 Death date: Apr 18, 2025
John Swinburne, age 78, finished his lifelong race on Friday, April 18, 2025. Born on August 16, 1946, in Glasgow, Scotland, John was the son of Josef and Mary (Hosie) Swinburne. In 1956, the family immigrated to the United State Read Obituary
We are deeply sorry for your loss ~ Shoreline Memorial Services - Muskegon
Swinny was my gym teacher and drivers training instructor. He would devote a whole semester in gym class to badminton and we all had to eat, sleep, and breathe badminton during that time lol! When he taught me in drivers training, he'd hop in the passenger seat, pop a Disney CD into the CD player, and recline his seat and relax (he'd be happy to know I've been an excellent driver with no tickets or accidents for 24 years). He even made sure we knew how to drive through a fast food drive through ;). He also had my two older sisters as students, so he always called me Little Weave. I remember when he sat us all down on the gym floor and was serious for the first time ever, and told us he had cancer. The next two years I had another gym teacher while he focused on his health and we missed him greatly. I'm very sorry to hear about his passing and my condolences go out to his family. Just know that he impacted my life and lots of others at Oakridge! He truly was a great teacher and person!
I had him for drivers training I loved it he made it fun to learn. I remember him not only having us drive to his house for his wife to make us lunch but we drove to one of his players houses to pick them up because they didn't have a ride to practice that was right after we got back to the school.
Coach not only coached me so many years ago, he also coached my son. I have many great memories, but one conversation sticks out and taught me so much. My son was a 3 sport athlete with track being the 3 rd. As a mom who loved the sport of track and field I always wanted to push my children into it even if it wasn't their first choice. After a particular meet we had a conversation about my son not putting 100% into his events. I wanted to push him but Coach was much wiser than me and told me to let him just enjoy track in his way. He said that he knew that the other 2 sports were very demanding on him and that this sport was social and non stressful for him and I should let him enjoy his time with teammates and to take a step back and just let him do what he was doing. I appreciated so much that wonderful advice as it allowed me to understand that sports are about more than pressure and winning. I will always think of coach and smile up to heaven knowing what an impact he had on my family and so many others. His smile was always contagious. His dedication not only to his family but to so many families along the way shows what a wonderful human being god created. He will be missed so very much.
