Calvin Kent Cooney

We lost a wonderful Husband, Brother and Father and a super friend and classmate when CALVIN KENT COONEY (Age 71) entered into rest on March 10, 2015 at the Spokane Veterans Home. He was born October 25, 1943 to Paul and Dorothy Williams Cooney in Spokane, WA. Cal graduated from Central Valley High School in 1961, where he was a starting player for the baseball team and a star starting player for the basketball team. Later in life he never lost his enthusiasm for sports and played and coached baseball until his health would no longer allow it. Calvin graduated from Eastern Washington University with a Bachelors of Arts degree on June 6, 1967. Upon graduation, Cal was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army in the Ordinance Corps. Cal completed numerous Army training courses including the Ordinance Officer Basic Course and the Supply Management Officers Course. Cal was a Viet Nam veteran earning, among other decorations, the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal. Cal served in the Army for nearly 11 years in a combination of active and reserve statuses, rising to the rank of Major, before resigning his commission in January of 1978 to pursue his education and civilian business opportunities. Cal also earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from City University in March 1979.

Cal was universally known as a superior salesman and made his living in the consumer products world with nationwide companies as diverse as Dartmouth Enterprises and worldwide companies like the Grainger Corporation. During that time, out of a sales force of almost 500 people worldwide, he was twice the number 1 salesman in the entire company.

Cal is survived by his wife Lois Hansen Cooney of Spokane Valley, his Brothers: Dennys and Vance, his twin daughters: Carrie Thomason (Brian) of St. Louis, MO, and Corie Andrew (Kirk) of Lenexa, KS and three grandchildren: Haley Thomason, Zachary Thomason and Cooper Andrew.

A funeral service will be held at the Thornhill Valley Funeral Home Chapel on Tuesday, March 24th at 10:00 am. Interment is to follow at the Washington State Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Medical Lake, WA at 1:30 pm. Memorial contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Smile Train Foundation, PO Box 96231, Washington, D.C. 20090-6231.

He was much loved and will be dearly missed.