Obituary of James Lincoln Common

 

Jim Common of Apple Valley -- father, grandfather, husband to Chris for 57 years, and counselor to decades of students at Rosemount Middle School -- died Friday, March 28, 2025, of complications of dementia. He was 82.

A month earlier, he had entered hospice care at The Rosemount, a senior care center just across 143rd Street from the Rosemount school where he had worked for 31 years.

James Lincoln Common Jr. was born Dec. 23, 1942, in Newark, N.J., and he grew up first in Lyndhurst and Rutherford, N.J., and later in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., where he graduated from Briarcliff High School in 1961. His parents, J. Lincoln and Gladys, were natives of North Dakota, and his father was a scientist for General Foods who worked on products including Jell-O and Tang. Jim was a conference champion in the 440-yard dash for the Briarcliff track team, played basketball and bagged groceries at the A&P. He rooted for baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers until they broke his heart by moving to Los Angeles when he was 15.

He followed his father to the University of North Dakota, where he joined the Golden Feather Club, belonged to the Kappa Sigma fraternity and compiled an uneven academic record. A letter from UND allowing him to remain in school on academic probation still hangs in a frame above his desk at home. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1966. Years later, his motto for his RMS students would be “You Miss School, You Miss Out.” 

At UND, he met and fell in love with Mary Christine Hennessy of Fargo, N.D. Jim and Chris were married Aug. 21, 1967, and they followed her job west to Washington state, settling in Tacoma. Jim found work as a social studies teacher at Columbia Crest School near Mount Rainier, driving his new 1967 Ford Mustang into the Cascade Mountains each morning.

In 1969, their first son, Casey, was born, and the next year they relocated to the Twin Cities. While Chris worked as a medical technologist, Jim tended bar at the Rusty Nail in Crystal and Paul’s Place in Roseville while he earned a master’s degree from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul. He was hired at Rosemount Middle School in 1972. 

A second son, Michael, arrived in 1973, and that year Jim and Chris bought a modest, split-level house on Oriole Drive in Apple Valley. It would be their family home for more than 50 years.

Jim loved his work. He led support groups for children of divorced parents and reported to work early in August every year to organize new-student orientation and registration. He cherished his relationships with his District 196 colleagues, and after he retired in 2003 he enjoyed hearing from his former Rosemount and Columbia Crest students.

In addition to his family and his students, Jim loved baseball and American history, interests he passed on to both his sons; 1967 Ford Mustangs, several of which he owned during his lifetime; his backyard rose bushes; the music of Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, the Kingston Trio, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys, Gordon Lightfoot, Don Williams, Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel and the Traveling Wilburys; Honey Nut Cheerios; and many snack foods. Favorite vacation destinations over the years included family cabins on Lake Sallie in Detroit Lakes, Minn., and later on Little Bass Lake near Remer, Minn.; his son Mike and his family in Colorado; cross-country driving trips to New York, Washington, D.C., and Seattle; Las Vegas; and, after his retirement, Fort Myers Beach, Fla.

Survivors include his wife, Chris; sons Casey (Beth Podtburg) of St. Paul and Michael (Jennifer Wunsch) of Boulder, Colo.; sister Shirley Dahlgren of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; sisters-in-law Betty Hennessy of Cerritos, Calif., and Penny Common of Clarks Summit, Pa.; grandchildren Linnea, Lincoln and Wilson; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Janice; and a brother, Robert.

The family would like to thank the staff of The Rosemount and Minnesota Hospice for their care and support.

A celebration of Jim’s life will be held later this spring. Memorials are suggested to Twin Cities Public Television.