John Cotton, a button-down business-education teacher at Naperville Central High School and a former accountant, would hop on his beloved 100th anniversary Harley-Davidson motorcycle on weekends and ride the open roads of western Illinois with his wife and friends.
In August, he biked to his childhood home in Joliet, one of the last trips he took before beginning stem-cell treatments aimed at eradicating the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that had re-emerged after more than a year in remission.
“We rode down to Joliet and saw the house that he grew up in,” said friend and colleague Todd Ballard. “I think he was proud of where he had came from and how far he had come.”
Mr. Cotton, 46, an educator at Naperville Central for the last seven years, died of heart failure Tuesday, Oct. 18, at the Marriott Suites in Lombard, where he was recovering from stem-cell treatments.
He was the ninth of 10 children in a close-knit family and graduated from Lockport High School in 1976. After working for a few years, he entered DePaul University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
He worked for many years as an auditor and staff accountant at Continental Bank and Coopers & Lybrand in Chicago, friends and family said.
In 1980, he married Judy Schutter, the mother of his son Joe. They were divorced more than a decade later. He married Lisa Ann Cotton, who teaches at Naperville North High School, in 2000.
Mr. Cotton received a master’s degree and his teaching certificate from Northern Illinois University because he wanted to work with youths.
“He was very spiritual, very devout and he wanted to just give something back with his life to the community,” said Ballard, a Naperville Central educator, who described Mr. Cotton as a popular teacher.
Family members said he was one class away from earning a second master’s degree from North Central College in Naperville.
Mr. Cotton was active in the District 203 teachers union, the Naperville Unit Education Association, where he most recently served as second vice president and grievance chair.
Mr. Cotton also was on the union’s team during the last two contract talks and his business knowledge helped him “quickly understand the complexities of school district finance,” said union president David Griffith. “He was also an excellent problem solver.”
After Mr. Cotton beat cancer a few years ago, he fully embraced his inner biker, getting several Christian tattoos, buying motorcyclist attire such as leather vests, and buying his chrome-and-black Harley.
“Harley-Davidson was a real big part of his life,” said his sister, Marjorie Smolich. “If you weren’t riding a Harley, you weren’t riding a bike.”
In addition to his wife and son, other survivors include his father, Loren; a brother, Larry; six sisters, Rita Erickson, Carol Surges, Nancy Sanders, Linda Cave, Melody Ongenae and Kitty Storm; and three stepchildren, Justin, Angelica and Charlie Biller.
Visitation will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, followed by services at Grace Pointe Church, 1320 Chicago Ave., Naperville.
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