Dan and Tiffini John establish endowment for Juan Diego Catholic High School as parting gift to diocese

Intermountain Catholic

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Dan John

DRAPER - Teacher, coach, director of religious education - Dan John has filled numerous roles during his 28 years with the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Now, as he prepares to move to California because his wife, Tiffini, received a promotion, he has taken on another role as well: that of benefactor.

The Johns have created the Daniel and Tiffini John Family Endowment at Juan Diego Catholic High School, where Dan has been since 2005 as a teacher and coach. The endowment will provide academic scholarships for students at the school. "We all know that when a student has a Catholic education, down the line marvelous things happen," Dan John said.

The cost of Catholic education has been an issue for educators for many years, he added. "Tiffini and I are worried that faculty and staff members are going to be left with this choice of wanting to teach in our schools but not being able to afford to send their kids to our own schools. We're trying to set up an endowment so that, in the future, faculty members and staff members can not have to worry if they want to send their children to our schools."

The endowment, which will be administered through the Catholic Foundation of Utah, will require at least a year before it will produce scholarships, said Jennifer Carroll, the foundation director. The Johns' contribution "is exemplary, because they're not Bill Gates," she said. "I think so many times people feel like they have to be wealthy to establish an endowment ... but people can establish an endowment over a five-year period of time, which is $2,000 a year. It's less than $200 a month. It is doable."

Family named endowments through the foundation are at least $10,000 a year.

Juan Diego benefits from about 20 endowments, not all of them family named. The gifts began when the school was founded; some of the grant money given to establish the school remained and was placed into endowments for education and facilities, said Molly Dumas, director of Institutional Advancement/Public Information at the school. "They understood that schools are closing all over the country because they don't have endowments to carry them through those lean years," she said.

Then an anonymous donor posed a challenge to raise a half million dollars, and other endowments were established.

John started his career with the diocese in 1982 as a teacher and coach at Judge Memorial Catholic High School. He credits Tim Carr for helping to get him hired, and says Carr gave him the best teaching advice of his career: That kids whose lives are rough don't need another friend, they need their teachers to be adults.

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In 1996 John became the diocesan director of religious education, then returned to teaching in 2005 at Juan Diego, where he also is the head track coach. Until recently, he also was a world-class competitor in Highland games, competing in events such as the caber toss and the weight over the bar.

"There's so many good memories," he said, but one of the best was two years ago, when he watched both of his daughters compete in discus at the state finals. "It was just one of those moments when, for that to happen, so many of millions of wonderful things had to happen," he said.

John is loyal, has a great sense of humor and is completely dedicated to the mission of the Church, said Chris Long, Juan Diego assistant principal of student services, who has been friends with John since they taught together at Judge Memorial. "The other quality that I admire ... He treats everybody the same. It doesn't matter whether you're an NFL star or a child in a CCD class."

Msgr. Terence Moore, pastor of Saint John the Baptist Parish, remembers John from his days as pastor of Saint Thomas More Parish in Sandy, when John was the diocesan director of religious education and would address the religious education classes.

John is a "very gifted speaker, very motivational speaker," Msgr. Moore said. "He's just got a wonderful deep spirituality that is so relatable to people. He's able to connect with such a wide range of people, whether they be young people like out here at Juan Diego or parents in religious education programs or RCIA candidates and catechumens. He has such a fine way of communicating spirituality and catechesis. He's really contributed greatly to the knowledge and the inspiration here in our diocese over the years."

In addition, at Juan Diego, "The parents of the kids always speak so well of him in terms of the kind of a role model he is for kids in terms of holistic health and the spiritual dimensions of life," Msgr. Moore said. "He's been very influential that way."

Tiffini John is a partner with her husband's philanthropy, Dumas said. "She does believe in supporting the things the schools do. It's not just our school; she's helped St. Francis and the church. She's one of those quiet contributors. And they have kids that are the same way; they're really quiet but boy, they do incredible things here."

The move to Burlingame, outside of San Francisco, will allow John to concentrate on his writing, he said; he also plans to continue giving weight-lifting seminars. In addition, he's considering learning cook, returning to school to earn a doctoral degree, and taking more Scripture classes. It all fits with his philosophy that's neatly summed up in his favorite quote from Don Quixote: "It's the road, not the inn."

"He's going to be a significant loss to the diocese in many ways," Long said. "When you've got a guy who can toss the caber and discuss Aquinas, that's quite a combo."