John Roger Hoskinson

Longtime Grants Pass resident John Roger Hoskinson, 81, passed away on March 2, 2022, from pulmonary damage caused by COVID-19.

John was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 24, 1940, to George and Lillian Hoskinson. Their small family traveled around the globe as his father's Navy career sent them to places as far-flung as Morocco and Hawaii. They settled in California, where John earned his Eagle Scout award and graduated from Sunnyvale High School in 1959. At San Jose State University he met and married Pauline Jenkins in 1964. They raised their two children, Bonnie and Jeff, in Grants Pass and Brookings OR, and later divorced.

He began his teaching career in California. The family moved to Grants Pass after falling in love with the landscape while camping along the Rogue River. He taught in Grants Pass while earning his Masters in 1970 at Southern Oregon College in Ashland. He especially enjoyed sharing practical science projects such as tree planting and the biology of breadmaking to fourth graders, at Manzanita, Fruitdale, and Murphy elementary schools in the Grants Pass school district. He was later a principal in other small Oregon school districts.

Anyone who knew John knew that he was a loving father and grandfather. John wanted to provide for his family and give them the life he felt they deserved. His family was precious to him, something he often mentioned. He was proud of his children, and always did his best to support them. John is survived by his two children, Bonnie Hoskinson-Wiebe and Jeffrey Hoskinson, both of Eugene, Oregon and four grandchildren, Emily, Ellen, Daniel, and Olivia.

John loved to putter around his house and tinker on his 1970 VW Beetle, a car he purchased new in Grants Pass and owned to the end of his life. He enjoyed exercising with "the girls" he met at YMCA "Boot Camp" and attending Bible study groups, socializing over coffee with the menfolk.

All are welcome to celebrate John's life at a memorial service, 1:00pm on Sunday March 20th at Edgewater Christian Fellowship in Grants Pass.

In lieu of flowers, donations in honor of John may be made to the Grants Pass YMCA.

His family would like to thank the compassionate, dedicated staff at Asante Three Rivers Hospital for their efforts in caring for John in his final days.