Lois Geraldine Koehn
Lois Geraldine Koehn
Lois Geraldine Koehn was born to Clemen and Lydia Nightengale Koehn on Oct. 12, 1939. She peacefully departed this life on Aug. 9, 2018, at Sunset Home Assisted Living, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, at the age of 78 years. Lois was the second oldest in a family of five girls. She spent her childhood and growing up years on a dairy farm at Copeland, Kan. Her young life was devoted, along with her family, to caring for their invalid sister, LaVonna.
At the young age of 11 she felt the call of God and gave her life to Him. She was baptized on June 3, 1951, into the Church of God in Christ Mennonite, by Minister Vernon Nightengale. She remained true to this faith until the end.
She attended all eight years of school at East Banner School, Copeland, Kan., with a childhood chum, Janet Loucks Schmidt, creating a friendship which lasted a lifetime.
On Sept. 6, 1959, she married me, Lee Vern Koehn, at Copeland, Kan. Our union was blessed with two children, Leland and LeAnn.
Together we began our new home in Ulysses, Kan., on my dad (Edward Koehns’) farm. Later, in 1961, we began farming in Wichita County, Kansas. We attended Scott City Mennonite Church.
In the winter of 1966 we moved to a farm near Sharon Springs, Kan. Farming in Wallace County proved to be challenging and rewarding. She loved to work in her yard growing beautiful flowers. Even in the sparsely populated plains of Western Kansas, her hospitality reached out to our many friends and family.
A family project of butchering chickens opened up new friendships and horizons.
In March of 2004, we moved to Othello, Wash. We sold our farm in Kansas, and bought ground in Othello, Wash. This was hard for Lois, as her roots were in Kansas, but she soon loved Washington with all the fruit and wonderful friends that helped us in so many ways.
In April of 2018 we moved Lois into Sunset Home Assisted Living, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, where she was lovingly cared for until her death.
Lois is survived and dearly missed by her husband of almost 59 years, Lee Vern Koehn of Bonners Ferry, Idaho; one son, Leland and Joyce Koehn, Scott City, Kan.; one daughter, LeAnn and David Holdeman, Bonners Ferry, Idaho; two sisters, Lovella and Wilbur Koehn, Grant, Neb., and Laura and Kenny Koehn, Halstead, Kan.; two sisters in-law, Luella Koehn & Mrs. Wilda Yost, Ulysses, Kan.; two brothers-in-law, Jacob and Ella Rose Koehn, Versailles, Mo.; and Granville and Dorothy Koehn, Scott City, Kan.; 11 grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, parents in law, three brothers in law, two sisters, and one sister in law.
Services were held on Monday, Aug. 13, 2018 at the Woodland Mennonite Church in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.