William Donald Koontz

William Donald Koontz
October 19, 2012

God sent his Holy Angels down and took a very special husband and father back to Heaven at 12:17pm on Friday, October 19, 2012. He was surrounded by both family and friends during his transition. Bill always loved to talk and laugh, and made friends easily. He was married to his beautiful wife Rosemary just shy of 69 years, and would have been 91 years of age on November 29th.

Bill was born in Peru Indiana in 1921 to Loretta and William Koontz. After graduating from Mishawaka High School, he joined the Army Air Corps and became a World War II bomber pilot for 11 months in the European Theater. He flew both the A-26 Invader and the B-26 Marauder, and made many successful bombing runs over Germany. Prior to his transfer overseas, he married his high school sweetheart Rosemary and they were gifted with three children, Jeff who lives with his wife Carol in Jonesboro, Randy who resides with his wife Annette in Tempe, AZ, and Alyssa whose home is in Cary, NC. After the war, he studied architecture and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1950.

Bill was blessed with good health and was actively involved in his community. He was honored to be the Grand Marshall of Jonesboro’s 2011 Veterans Day Parade. He treasured the opportunity to organize many driving runs for the Jonesboro Miata Club through the beautiful winding roads of Arkansas, and drew the design for the Clubs sweatshirts. Bill cherished the times that he and his loving wife could dance the night away – both in square dancing and line dancing. His love of flying never departed him in that he owned and routinely flew his two private planes (a small Piper Pacer and a Mooney) until later in life. He was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association and always looked forward to flying with friends to attend the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Bill was always very young at heart – he loved to drive his Miata’s fast and furious, thinking of course that he could easily become a professional racecar driver. He never met a sweet dessert that he did not like, and he treasured the opportunity to play board games, but he did not like to lose. During his more quiet times, he was an avid reader of history, and he loved to watch and laugh at his favorite sitcoms.

Bill has five amazing grandchildren (Keri, Christopher, Holly, Erich, and Becky) and five wonderful great grandchildren (Jordan, Gunner, Kaylie, Parker, and Wyatt).

Although we had Bill in this world for 90+ years, we will very much miss his laughter, his stimulating conversations, and his love. God saw that he was getting tired, and a recovery was not to be, so He put His arms around him and said Come with Me. With tearful eyes we watched you as you slowly passed away, and though we loved you dearly, we could not make you stay!

Your family and friends will always love you BK!

Friends are welcomed to join the family for a visitation that will be held from 5pm to 7pm on Wednesday October 24th at Emerson Funeral Home. All other services will be private. In lieu of flowers, the Koontz family would prefer that our friends consider a donation to the Flo & Phil Jones Hospice House in Jonesboro.

Online Registry: www.emersonfuneralhome.com