The Coach John Dockstader Fund: Continuing a Legacy of Giving and Guiding

During his life, the late Coach John Dockstader, Ph.D., was a dedicated cross-country coach and mentor at Meade Senior High School for 26 years. His legacy now lives on through the Coach John Dockstader Fund at the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County.

“Children and Meade High School were very important to John, so I wanted to do something that was very community-, youth-, and education-specific in his memory,” said John’s wife, Marsha Jackson, about opening the Donor Advised Fund at CFAAC.

Grants from the fund will support scholarships for graduates of Meade High School or other Anne Arundel Public School students living in the Meade High School catchment area, helping them pursue academic or vocational post-secondary education. Additional grants will benefit nonprofit organizations assisting younger students to graduate high school and prepare for secondary education or vocational training through mentorship, tutoring, and similar support programs.

Marsha emphasized the unique challenges faced by students in the Meade catchment area due to the high number of transient military families. “The school doesn’t have as strong a support system of alumni families as other schools do,” she explained. “We thought it was important to provide additional resources for the long-term resident students. John wanted kids to know that even if they aren’t straight-A students, there is a path for them. There aren’t many scholarship opportunities for average students who haven’t realized their potential yet – and not everyone wants or needs to go to college. John wanted to make sure that students who were trying had opportunities, too. It was very important to him that a minimum average of C was enough to deserve support.”

Mentorship was another key focus of their giving. Marsha explained that John’s own educational journey, which began at a community college, was long and financially challenging. “Had John had guidance and financial support from someone to help him figure out a path, his life would have been much easier,” she said.

This desire to make life easier for others also influenced Marsha’s decision to work with CFAAC. “Community Foundations are a professional way of having your charitable wishes administered, and it is so much easier than trying to do it on your own,” she said. “They have the resources and the contacts. They are active in the community and know the organizations that need funds. They know what questions to ask to help you fine-tune how you want to give. Even though I have ideas of how I want the money to be used, working with CFAAC helps me to focus and find resources that I might not know otherwise.”

After Marsha’s passing, the Donor Advised Fund will become an endowed fund, continuing in perpetuity to support the causes she and John cared about most. Knowing this brings her peace of mind. “The fund will be well-administered and well-invested, and it lessens the burden on surviving family members who already have a lot on their plate,” she said.

“It takes a lot of the stress away. If you want to do something charitably designed, having it administered by an organization like CFAAC, whose whole purpose is doing that, makes the most sense to me.”