Karen Kay Koontz

Karen Kay Greene Koontz, 83, of North Hills, California, went home to Heaven with a tremendous piece of our hearts on February 28, 2021. Loving wife, mother and grandmother, she was brought into this world on October 26, 1937 in Muscatine, Iowa. She was a happy child who always carried a smile on her face. She loved to sing and dance. Karen’s early life was spent on the farm with her parents Howard and Alice (Chown) Greene of Columbus Junction and three siblings where they cared for chickens, cattle, pigs and the vegetable garden. She was always excited to attend the annual Louisa County and Iowa State Fairs. Karen enjoyed acting during her school years, landing the lead role in the production “Mother is a Freshman.” In 1954, Karen was chapter president of Louisa County 4-H, an organization that helps youth become outstanding citizens. Karen graduated from Columbus High School in Columbus Junction, Iowa in 1955 and entered college at Iowa State University in Ames. She later transferred to Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe where she joined the Epsilon Delta chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma as a Charter Member. She graduated from ASU with a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics in 1960 and moved to Los Angeles, California to begin her teaching career. One of her most memorable trips occurred the following summer when she traveled by freighter to Italy and lived with a Sicilian family as she explored the country.

Karen was introduced to Richard “Ken” Koontz by her college roommate and the two were inseparable. Ken and Karen married on August 20, 1966 and had three children: Jim, Brett, and Kerri Ann. The family took countless camping trips, traveling over 350,000 miles in their 1968 VW camper van and spent much of their vacation time together at their condo in Mammoth Lakes, California. She enjoyed backpacking, camping, hiking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing with her beloved family. She cherished being a wife and mother who enjoyed quiet times helping with homework and baking favorite treats like pumpkin bread and snickerdoodles cookies. Thanksgiving was her favorite holiday and she had a talent for crafting a spectacular feast of her favorite family recipes. Karen loved chauffeuring her children to their numerous activities including AYSO soccer, volleyball games, track meets and was always their biggest supporter from the stands. She was very proud that each of her children earned their respective college degrees and grew to become loving adults.

After 35 years as an educator, teaching at Sutter Junior High, Cleveland High and San Fernando High schools, Karen retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1999. She enjoyed all of her students but in particular loved working with young children. Some of her most enjoyable hours at San Fernando High were spent at the Tiny Tigers preschool where she taught “Careers with Children Academy” for two decades.

During her retirement years, she shared time with family and friends. She filled her home with warmth and kindness, enjoyed working in her lovely yard and created photograph scrapbooks from travels with her beloved husband. Together they explored numerous exotic destinations including Canadian Rockies, Africa, Russia, Ecuador, Peru, Australia and New Zealand. Throughout her lifetime, she enjoyed sewing and had a passion for creating beautiful quilts, and took the time to teach others as well. She was a member of the San Fernando Valley Quilt Association (SFVQA).

Also known as Grammy and Auntie Karen, she will be deeply missed by her entire family and countless friends. She is survived by her husband, her three children, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents, her sister, Maxine (Greene) Goble, and her two brothers, Warren “Bill” Greene and Robert “Bob” Greene. Please consider a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association in her memory. Funeral mass will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 26, 2021 at Our Lady of Lourdes in Northridge, California. Log-on information to livestream the service can be found on the dignitymemorial.com website under her name. She will be interred at Assumption Catholic Cemetery in Simi Valley, California.

Service Link:

http://bit.ly/KarenFuneral