Bridge over Loch Raven Reservoir named for fallen soldier
Christopher Coffland was a fitness enthusiast, a world traveler and a lover of life, according to friends and family.
The Timonium native played football at the Gilman School, pursued a doctorate in anthropology at Washington State and joined the Army in 2007 at age 41 — he wanted to beat the age deadline for enlistment, which was then 42. Two years later, Coffland was killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb on Nov. 13, 2009, said his sister, Lynn Coffland of Baltimore.
Years later, Corporal Coffland’s friends and family will gather on Nov. 13 — the ninth anniversary of his death — to dedicate a bridge across Loch Raven Reservoir on Dulaney Valley Road. Signs bearing his name were erected on each end of the bridge last week.
“It was a really humbling moment to see my brother’s name be put on a sign that I know will be there for as long as that bridge exists,” said Lynn Coffland.
The bridge dedication was a project of the Catch A Lift Fund, a nonprofit Lynn Coffland founded a year after her brother’s death. The Timonium-based organization provides fitness grants and mentorship to veterans to help them acclimate to civilian life. Its website, catchaliftfund.org, bears the motto “Changing Bodies, Healing Minds, Saving Lives.”
Veterans can choose fitness programs or gym memberships that suit them to help heal mentally and physically, from jujitsu to CrossFit, Coffland said. The company provides home equipment and matches veterans with former program participants to help coach them on nutrition, meal planning and workouts.
“We started it on [Christopher’s] own philosophy that through physical fitness, he A crew mounts a sign bearing Army Cpl. Christopher Coffland’s name on a bridge over Loch Raven Reservoir. Coffland, a Timonium native, was killed in Afghanistan in November 2009. believed you could achieve your highest level of mental and physical abilities,” Coffland said.
Coffland said the bridge dedication could not have happened without support from veterans who have benefited from Catch A Lift. Several helped prepare the application and petition for the Maryland State Highway Administration’s permission to name the state road. That approval was granted in June.
Rob Fessock, of Orlando, Fla., a 16-year retired Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who benefited from Catch A Lift Fund while living in Baltimore, worked on the application and wrote a biography of Christopher Coffland touting his character and accomplishments.
“He’s a guy I would definitely hang out with if I knew him,” Fessock said. “He seemed like a fun, intelligent person. He was open to all cultures, which is a great thing.”
Fessock said Catch A Lift worked with him on running has improved his own quality of life by keeping him active and motivated. The program, he said, has “saved the lives of thousands of veterans.”
Fessock came back from the wars with depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and said he suffered from the loss of camaraderie after leaving the military.
Catch A Lift’s program, which provided coaching and support, got Fessock exercising every day, giving him a “sense of purpose.”
Fessock said Coffland’s sister “keeps the memory of her brother alive.”
“Every civilian and military member that crosses that bridge knows that he served his nation and made the ultimate sacrifice,” Fessock said.
Matthew Wood, of Baltimore, is another veteran who has benefited from Catch A Lift, utilizing a CrossFit program and nutrition counseling. Wood never met Christopher Coffland, “but if I did I’m sure he would have been just as motivating in life as he is in memory.”
The bridge bearing Christopher Coffland’s name was among the Army corporal’s favorite fishing spots while growing up in Timonium, his sister said.
“It’ll be very simple, like he was. He liked things very simple,” Lynn Coffland said
Of the Nov. 13 gathering, Lynn Coffland said “it’ll be very simple, like he was. He liked things very simple.”
The soldier’s family and friends will attend the dedication and the public is invited to attend and recite the pledge of allegiance together. The gathering is tentatively scheduled for 9 a.m.
The dedication will be “pretty emotional,” Coffland said.
“I know that many veterans have died before him and will continue to afterwards,” Coffland said. “To know that he’s up there as long as that bridge will stand the test of time — he can represent those that came before or after who don’t have a sign.
“He’d like that,” she said.