Jeff Coddington never missed his son’s hockey games. As his daughter prepared to launch her career, he was happy to help and offer advice – anytime she needed it. If there was a chance to make a difference in his beloved community, Jeff jumped at the opportunity.
As his wife, Beth Coddington, put it: “He was dedicated to every aspect of his life.”
Shortly after Jeff was diagnosed with cancer last year, son Jake Coddington brought home a gift for the longtime Chalfont resident – a sweatshirt bearing Superman’s logo on the front and the following words on the back: “Dad: the man, the myth, the legend.”
Less than two months later on Aug. 19, 2021, Jeff passed away suddenly – leaving a giant void in the Coddington family’s life. He was 62.
“It’s the biggest, empty hole you could ever, ever imagine right now,” Beth tearfully said. “It’s the biggest hole.”
“It’s hard to believe that somebody with such a big presence is gone,” she continued. “That’s how I feel right now. Somebody who had such a big presence … how could they just be gone one day?
Over the past year, family members, longtime friends and neighbors have rallied around the Coddingtons as Jake, 20, and Jessica, 31, grieve the loss of their father and Beth, the loss of her husband of 36 years.
Though surrounded by support, the trio are still trying to find their way as a family, Beth acknowledged.
But if ever the Coddingtons need a place to rest on this difficult journey, if ever they need a quiet place to pause and reflect – they now have a beautiful spot to retreat to, thanks to several neighbors who came together to purchase a memorial bench in honor of Jeff.
The bench, located in Chalfont’s Lindenfield neighborhood, was dedicated on May 9. The Coddingtons were given the option of choosing the bench’s location, and they felt the family’s neighborhood made the most sense, Beth said, though several locations in Chalfont would have sufficed.
Jeff, who was vice president of Chalfont Borough Council at the time of his passing, was first appointed to the council in 2014, when he was tapped to fill a vacancy created by a member who was moving out of the borough. He completed that term and was then elected to the council, earning the most votes cast for a council member that year, noted council member Tracey Bowen.
He served on numerous borough committees over the years, including the Finance Committee, Steering Committee, Business Development Committee, Facilities Committee and Blighted Property Review Committee.
Among his accomplishments, Jeff was instrumental in bringing Owowcow to Chalfont and repurposing the old firehouse as the ice cream shop’s fifth storefront. He was so effective at addressing dilapidated properties in the borough – among them a burned out car wash that has since become a small business – that he essentially closed the Blighted Property Review Committee out of existence, Bowen added.
“Jeff was driven,” Beth described. “He was enthusiastic about serving Chalfont and doing what he could do to make it a nice place to raise your family.”
At the time of his passing, Jeff and Beth had lived in Chalfont for 29 years and the couple raised three children together, including daughter Heather, who passed away from cancer in 2000 at the age of 14.
Jeff was “a loving husband and a great father,” Beth said.
“As busy as he was, he always put us first,” she added.
The bench is located near a tiny bridge that connects the Lindenfield neighborhood to North Branch Park, Beth said. She walks her dogs to that bench area all the time.
She is extremely thankful for her fellow community members’ generosity – “It was just an amazing thing, unbelievable,” Beth said – and she is grateful Chalfont now has a public installation honoring “the man, the myth, the legend.”
“One of the council members spoke at the bench dedication and put it into perfect words,” Beth said. “He said, ‘I hope when you walk by or sit down and rest on the bench you’ll just remember all the hard work and wonderful things that Jeff did for us and the community.”
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