04/09/2026
It's Volunteer Appreciation Month and here at Rest Stop Ranch we have some of the best, most dedicated volunteers around! Take John, garden crew lead volunteer and board member, who has dedicated 100's of hours to Rest Stop Ranch since 2010. We appreciate you John!
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Rest Stop Ranch (RSR) volunteer John Coulon loves to “get dirty in the garden.” In every season, the four-acre wooded landscape with accessible trails and flower beds guarantees hard and tedious maintenance which John welcomes. Whether stacking cord wood, raking brush, filling bird feeders, or mowing the lawn, John values the opportunity that outdoor manual labor provides to clear his mind.
A retired Local Public Health Officer in Topsfield, John grew up in Lynn, MA and attended St. John’s Prep. Starting in his junior year in 1968 and for the next 5 years, John’s love for volunteering in rigorous settings was nurtured on the campus of the current Hogan Regional Center in Danvers where he developed an after-school open gym program for the developmentally challenged residents. John earned a degree in Special Education and kept volunteerism a life-priority as evidenced by his notebook listing all twelve of the organizations to which he has donated his time and blood (as a regular blood platelet donor).
John met RSR founders Mary and Karl in a professional capacity as they worked with Town Hall in 2010 to expand the garden’s offerings. On his first visit to the garden, he immediately connected with the RSR’s mission of using horticulture to create an accessible space for caregivers and their loved ones on a health care journey. In his retirement, John became a member of the RSR’s Board of Directors but admits to being most pleased when he can “relieve Karl of smaller responsibilities so he can work on a bigger project.”
John divulged that mowing the front garden lawn is his favorite task and said with pride, “When I look back at the straight lines of freshly cut grass, I feel a satisfaction that I accomplished something good.” Mary, Karl, the RSR staff and volunteers would be quick to add that no matter what John is doing in the garden, he is always doing “something good!”
To learn how you can become a Rest Stop Ranch volunteer, contact Volunteer Coordinator Christel Charlesworth at [email protected].
