On October 20th Koy passed away at his home after a long battle with cancer. His wife and children were always by his side during his long battle.
Visitation will be 4-8pm on Sunday October 27th at Peace Lutheran Church in West Bend.
Funeral Services are at 10:30 on October 28th at the Peace Lutheran Church in West Bend. Burial will take place in the West Bend Cemetery. Services will be live-streamed on Lentz Funeral Home's website.
Koy Lee Goodchild was born on January 20, 1957, to Beverly (Hynes) and Ghervus Goodchild in Emmetsburg, Iowa. He was raised on a farm just north of Mallard with his five brothers: Klint,Kent, Kal,Klay and Kip. He kept busy farming and raising pigs which they showed at state and local fairs.
Koy married his high school sweetheart and love of his life, Lori Sonksen, on September 2, 1978 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Mallard, Iowa. He always said the Good Lord makes one person for each of us and he found his match with a beautiful girl from Curlew, Iowa. Koy always would joke that he knew Lori was "the one" when on their first date he drove into the ditch, she still said yes for a second date and the rest was history.
Koy and Lori lived in Le Mars, Iowa for several years before moving to West Bend in 1980, making this their permanent home. Koy was a teacher and a football coach, where his booming laugh and fun spirit were always heard throughout the hallways and in the classroom. He was best known for his pranks that often backfired (fruit flies and sawdust, just to name a few). Koy was blessed with a natural ability to make anyone , whether they played football or not, feel special and important. He found the good in everyone and took the time to talk to them.
Koy and Lori had their amazing life blessed by four children: Shawna, Alicia, Ryan and Kole. To many , Koy was know as coach, but he always was quick to point out he was most proud and blessed by his role as Husband, Dad and Grandpa. He loved spending time with his kids and grandkids at all their events from sports to dance to music. He excelled at being the "fun" grandpa. His eyes would light up when the grandkiddos would run up to him and give him a big hug!
Koy made many lasting friendships with fellow coaches and students from all over. His amazing career in West Bend as a Bulldog and later in West Bend Mallard as a Wolverine are highlighted with a record of 229 wins and 38 losses, 4 state championships and induction into Iowa High School Coaches Hall of Fame. He also coached at Iowa Central Community College. After retiring from coaching, he loved spending time down by the river fishing or just driving around on gravel roads, or as he called the "nature trips" checking out the rivers and local fishing holes.
Koy had a special knack for growing flowers and always made sure his lawn was perfect He and Lori loved sitting outside on their patio drinking coffee and looking for hummingbirds-that was the nature lover in him. He also loved reading and studying the Bible.
It is hard to know where to stop, we could write a book about this amazing man and all the good he has done. The amazing thing was that he never understood why people thought of him in that way, to him he was just being himself and doing what he did best.
Koy is survived by his wife Lori of 46 years; four children, Shawna (Mark) Bonnstetter of Humboldt, Alicia (Ryan) Smith of Ames, Ryan (Dayna) Goodchild of Johnston and Kole (Tiffany) Goodchild of Stillwater, MN; 11 grandchildren, Levi, Larsen and Salem Bonnstetter, Lauren and Cullen Smith, Grayson and Greta Goodchild, Maddie, Karter, Gabby and Sam Goodchild; brothers Klint (Chris) Goodchild of Royal Kal Goodschild of Van Horne, Klay (Debbie) Goodchild of Texas and Kip Goodchild of Texas; mother-in-law, Trudy Sonksen of Mallard; brother-in-law's, Steve Sonksen of Dallas, TX and Larry (Karla) Sonksen of Curlew; many nieces and nephews.
Koy was preceded in death by his parenst, Bev and Ghervus Goodchild, a brother Kent Goodchild, both maternal and paternal grandparents, several aunts, uncles and cousins. As well as his father-in-law and two sister-in-law's.