Jeanette M Koonce

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Jeanette Mathias Koonce. Our dear wife, mother, aunt, sister, and friend passed on December 30, 2019 after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 73 years old.

Jeanette was born on October 11, 1946 in St. Claire’s Shores, MI, an area that she described as a suburb of a suburb of Detroit, MI. She was the middle child of Adam and Eve Mathias.

After graduation, she moved to nearby Detroit, MI, where she accepted a job with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. During her time in the city, she spent many nights at the world famous nightclub, The Grand Ballroom, “The Grande”. The venue helped Detroit earn its nickname of “Rock City”. There, she was able to meet and mingle with such legendary performers as Eric Clapton, Janis Joplin, and Fleetwood Mac.

In 1969, Jeanette arrived in Bossier City, LA to help her sister, Barbara, who was expecting a child at a time when her husband was stationed in Vietnam. A quick snack at the KoKoMo Drive-In with friends led to her meeting Coyt Koonce. After she returned to Detroit, Coyt decided that he couldn’t live without her. He went to Michigan, married her, and brought her back to Shreveport. They spent the next 50 years together.

Jeanette was recognized as a master of the domestics, and her friends often referred to her as the “Martha Stewart of Shreveport”. As a young mother, she renovated the family home, sourced and refinished all of the antique furnishings, and laid out the gardens. Then, she spent the next forty years perfecting it. You would still find her up on a ladder painting the family home well into her seventies, and fluffing pillows during her illness. Friends often sought her out for advice on decorating, help with floral arranging, wallpapering, and renovation projects.

She was active in the Highland Baptist Church and was a regular hostess for the Highland Restoration Association’s Christmas Tour of Homes.

She genuinely cared for people, and people recognized that. Strangers would befriend her in the aisle of a store and proceed to share their story with her, and she often followed up with a gift or a note of encouragement.

She was preceded in death by her mother, the former Eva “Eve” Brown; father, Adam Mathias, Sr.; and baby sister, Liz Schaff.

Jeanette is survived in legacy by her husband, Coyt Koonce; her son, Kenneth Koonce-Richard; her “other son”, Emjay Richard-Koonce; her siblings, Eve Powell of Shreveport, Barbara Fortenberry of Bossier City, and Adam Mathias, Jr., of Mount Olive, NC; three stepchildren, her beloved nieces and nephews, in addition to many friends, and her beloved grand-dogs.

A graveside service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, January 2, 2020 at Hill Crest Memorial Park. Visitation with the family will be held 1:00 p.m. until the service time at Hill Crest Funeral Home.

In honor of Jeanette’s generous spirit and care for her neighbors, the family requests donations be made to Highland Center Ministries, 520 Olive St., Shreveport, LA 71104.