Carol Ann Koch, nee Avery, died May 4th, 2023 at 12:19 am, less than 25 hours after her eighty-fourth birthday. With her were her two daughters;  Robbie Koch Sabathier and Josslyn Lee Streett and myself, Larry Avery, her younger brother by eight years.  Carol was living at Sherwood Assisted Living in Sequim, Washington when she fell ill at the end of March and was hospitalized. At the end of April she returned to Sherwood, a place she called home because of the wonderful people there, but she passed away less than a week later.  She died with the three of us holding her, and the spiritual presence of many of our deceased family members in the room.  John Denver had been singing for us almost constantly through our vigil of two days.

Carol grew up on our country dairy farm of seventy acres, a mile and a half from Okemos. She was active in 4-H with projects in sewing and horses, among others.  She graduated Okemos High School in 1957 as Salutatorian of her class.  She attended Michigan State University and as a freshman met Joe Koch, originally from Yonkers, New York, who was studying psychology after four years in the Navy.  They married in 1958, when Carol was nineteen, and lived in the downstairs apartment of our parents’ home on Okemos Road.  Joe graduated and was offered a job in California.  Carol transferred her studies to San Diego State University and got her teaching credentials there.  Both Carol and Joe taught in schools in the “Cardiff by the Sea” area.  Carol taught elementary and Joe taught high school and did school counseling. As educators and eventually, small business owners, they had a vast number of friends in the people they worked with and their former students. They had two daughters, Robbie Nell, and Jodi Lee (Jodi later changed her name to Josslyn).   Joe eventually got a doctorate in Psychology from SDSU.  Their home in Cardiff was noteworthy for its’ stunning view of the ocean and two swimming pools connected with a twisting concrete water slide down the steep embankment to the canyon below.  Joe died of cancer in 2015 and Carol moved to Sequim, Washington to be near Josslyn’s family.  In 2019 Carol lost most of her vision to glaucoma and in 2021 moved to Sherwood Assisted Living.  She died there in the early morning of May 4th.  She was loved by all who knew her.

Larry Avery ‘65