Carl Kenneth Koch

We are heartbroken at the loss of our Dad, Grandpa, and Great-Grandpa, Carl Koch Jr. Carl passed away Monday night, on November 4th with his ‘special’ granddaughter, Karla, at his side, holding his hand.

Carl was born in La Crosse on June 7, 1928 at Gundersen Hospital to Carl and Dora (Schoenfeld) Koch. He attended Hogan and Longfellow schools and graduated in the top ten percent of his class from Central High School in 1946.

Carl met his future wife, Carol, one snowy winter morning in 1946 on the way to school. She and her girlfriends would have to walk past Central every morning on their way to Aquinas and on their way, Carol happened to throw a snowball at Carl and it hit him smackdab in the head and the rest was history. They began dating and Carl married Carol Ann Zahn on June 10, 1950 at St. Thomas More Catholic Church.

Carl worked for the Milwaukee Road Railroad on St. Andrew Street as a ‘Brakeman’ when he and Carol were first married. Later, he bought into and co-owned the DX service gas station with friend, Ralph Vaues. Later, they sold the station to the Hemker Oil Company and Carl found employment in 1965 at UW-La Crosse as a maintenance technician—a job he simply loved and he worked there for the next 25 years, retiring there in 1991,

Our Dad taught us many life lessons. To look for the good in all people no matter what. Also telling Debbie to humble herself (ha!) when her nose got too high up. Carl was a very giving and humble man. He had these beautiful soft marine blue eyes which were eventually passed on to his granddaughter, Kelly. As far as discipline goes, he always let us kids ‘GIVE OUR STORY’ before he passed sentence on us…LOL.

Carl loved having family and friends over for cookouts and get togethers and never did a party begin without him cranking out the ‘Beer Barrel Polka’ on the stereo. Carl was a devout Catholic never missing Mass until he got sick. He was a ‘hip’ Dad and Grandpa still riding his Kawasaki motorcycle at age 86. He taught his granddaughter, Kelly, to drive at age 16 and claimed he only had his fingers stuck into the dashboard a few times, ha! He said she had a lead foot.

Carl has lived in his same house on Denton Street for 67 years. When we think of our Dad, we immediately think of Christmas. The beautiful Christmas’s we have had in our parents’ living room for the past 67 years, can’t even be put into words. Our Dad was the decorator of decorators. Christmas was his favorite time of year. He would get out a microphone and make my brother Jeff and I sing “A Holly Jolly Xmas”. Our hearts will be a little more broken now that he is gone.

Dad loved ‘Beagles’. We were never without a dog growing up. In his 96 years of life he had 8 Beagles: Patsy, John, Skipper, Charlie, Kelly, Francis, Baby, and currently Fritzie who is 12.

We cannot put into words how much we will miss him. He was a young 96 and lived a long and happy life.

Carl and Carol had 3 children: Debra (Rollin) Wagner of La Crosse and 2 sons: Jeffrey and Kenneth. He is survived by 4 grandchildren: Karla Schoenfeld; Ryan (Bridget) Schoenfeld and their son, Jordan; Kelly (Ryan) Beach and their daughters, Addison and Ava; and Matthew (Jaime) Medenblik and their kids, River, Tyler, Cameron, Chloe, and Caden.

Carl was preceded in death by his parents; his wife Carol in 2010; his son Jeffrey in 2012 from diabetes; an infant brother Kenneth in 1925; his brother, Donald Koch, from Alaska; and his sister, Bernice Novak, from Eau Claire.

In accordance with Carl’s wishes, there will be no funeral. A private memorial prayer service was held.

A special Thank-You to Doctor Kyle Thomas and Doctor Jennifer Winegarden for their kind words and compassion and empathy for Carl.

We will miss you Dad and all those late night episodes of Alfred Hitchcock we used to watch together. God Bless You until we see you again. Heaven will never be the same when you start playing the Beer Barrel Polka up there for Jesus and your friends, LOL. (Love You Dad)!