Remembering Grant Woods: Chuck Coughlin shares his memories

For more on the life of Grant Woods, we spoke to a number of Woods’ friends and associates, including long-time political analyst Chuck Coughlin, President of the Public Affairs HighGround.

“I moved out here in 1985, I met him in ’85, when I started to work on John’s first senate campaign. His office was right above John’s. After that campaign was over, his father and he helped me get a job. I probably wouldn’t have stayed out here at the Mesa Chamber of Commerce as the Government Affairs Director. McCain and he both continued to stay I was the greatest mistake of their life,” Coughlin said.

He said their relationship goes, “back a long, long ways through his Attorney General run. I worked for him when he was Attorney General. He maintained a close personal relationship over time,” Coughlin said.

“Just the variety of relationships that you create over a lifetime would speak to the guy who he was…a big loss for everybody,” Coughlin said.

Coughlin continued to share that Woods, “had a charisma, he was brash, he was reverent…he was pointed, he was funny, he was not your typical political person. He was not afraid to mix it up. He was intellectually sharp, he was witty, he was not your average guy in any respect.”

The loss of Woods shocked Coughlin along with many others.

“To Marlene and the kids, I can’t imagine that. She’s just got to be strong for them. He loved his kids, that was the core of who he was. He was most proud of them. It wasn’t about him, it was about them.