JOHN E. CODWELL, JR.

1933-2017

John Elihue Codwell, Jr. passed away on August 14, 2017. John Elihue Codwell, Jr. is the only child of Vera and John Elihue Codwell, Sr., and he graduated as part of the very distinguished and talented 1950 Class at Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston, TX.

Codwell, Jr. was a graduate of the University of Michgan in the class of 1955. He was also a member of the Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated and Michigamua at the University of Michigan and later a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, serving in both Iota Boule and Nu Boule chapters.

When John Codwell, Jr. entered college in 1950, he elected to attend the University of Michigan where he became an outstanding student and athlete, earning three “Varsity Letters”: the block “M” and Freshman numerals in both basketball and baseball. He became the first African-American basketball player at the University of Michigan when he made the Freshman Team. In his sophomore year, he was joined by another African-American freshman athlete from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Don Eaddy; and the two players became the first two African-American varsity players on the Michigan Basketball Team. Codwell made the All Big Ten Team as “Honorable Mention” following the 1953-54 season.

Codwell also received a Master’s Degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Following his graduation from the University of Michigan and having been in the University of Michigan’s Reserve Officer Training Corps Program while there, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force where he served for three years, functioning as a Navigator and Instructor at Ellington Air force Base in Houston. Codwell retired from the U. S. Air Force after three years of service during which he attained his Navigator’s “silver wings” and the rank of First Lieutenant.

John Codwell, Jr. retired after 27 years of work in Detroit Public Schools , serving as Assistant Superintendent of the School Housing Department. After his retirement in 1989 from the Detroit School District, Codwell was appointed by the Mayor of Detroit, the late Honorable Coleman A. Young, as Executive Director of the Detroit Public Housing Authority.

John E. Codwell, Jr. was married for 29 years to the late Evelyn Bernette Reid Codwell. Evelyn was also a distinguished educator, teaching at the elementary school level for two years in Houston and almost fifteen years in Detroit. John is survived by their two children: son John Elihue Codwell, III (along with his wife Wendy Turner Codwell and their three children - John Elihue Codwell, IV, Reid Howard Codwell, and Austin Wyatt Codwell) and daughter Carolyn Elaine Codwell (along with her fiancé, Myron Wayne Jackson, III).