Donald Witzig, a coach in South Jersey

When he was spending summers in central Illinois in the early 1950s, Donald K. Witzig worked on the vegetable farms of both of his grandfathers.

Mr. Witzig went to school from seventh to 11th grade in a Mississippi town where his mother, Caroline, and stepfather lived, his wife, Kathlene, said.

But he needed to be back on his grandparents' farms each summer, and "loved the big Belgian horses" that they used in the fields instead of mules or tractors.

And so he spent his senior year with the grandparents so he could graduate from nearby Morton High School.

"He was definitely a family man," his wife said. "He was used to hard, honest work, and loved being with cousins and families."

On Monday, May 16, Mr. Witzig, 77, of Delran, a former high school coach in Cherry Hill and Marlton, died of Lewy body dementia at Arden Courts memory care community in Cherry Hill.

Apart from his coaching career, Mr. Witzig, as a Haddon Heights resident, was a member of the Haddon Heights Board of Education from 1987 to 2002, at times its president or vice president.

And from 2003 to 2008, he was a member of the Borough Council.

Born in Peoria, Ill., Mr. Witzig earned a bachelor's degree in physical and driver's education at the University of Illinois, and a master's in education curriculum and supervision at Rutgers-Camden, his wife said.

From 1967 until he retired in 1994, he taught physical and driver's ed at Cherry Hill High School East, and for a few years was the school's athletic director.

At times, he coached cross-country, track, and bowling teams in the same academic years, "best known for cross-country," his wife said.

In 1979, his girls' bowling team won a state championship, and in other years, his cross-country and track teams won regional championships.

After retiring from Cherry Hill East, he ws an assistant track coach at Cherokee High School in the 1990s.

To round out the picture, when a couple of his children were growing up in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he coached softball and baseball for Haddon Heights Youth Athletics. And in those same decades, he was a member of the vestry at Grace Episcopal Church in Merchantville and for a time its leader.

Besides his wife, Mr. Witzig is survived by son Jack; daughters Terri Joyce, Erica, and Julie McGraw, a brother; five grandchildren; and his former wife, Jeanne Smith.

Visitations were set from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 26, and 9:30 to 11 a.m. Friday, May 27, both at Grace Episcopal Church, 7 E. Maple Ave., Merchantville, N.J. 08109, before an 11 a.m. Requiem Eucharist there.

Donations may be sent to the church at the above address.

Condolences may be offered to the family at carusocare.com.

wnaedele@phillynews.com

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