Gwendolyn Eades Koch

Gwen was a traveler, people lover, book collector, food critic, musician, architecture educator/preservationist, and much loved Grandma and Mom. During World War II, she counted rivets and bolts in Evansville and traveled the country singing to the troops. After attending The Julliard School in New York for her masters, she taught music at the University of Evansville. Always an active proponent for education, she was one of the cofounders of Evansville Day School.

Gwen, along with her husband, Louis J. Koch Jr., restored a number of homes in downtown Evansville. She received a second masters in Humanities from the University of Evansville focusing on the Victorian era. As an active board member in the Victorian Society of America, she helped start a summer school for architects and preservationists to study the Victorian era. She received the Historic Preservation award from the City of Evansville in 2002. Active to the end, she attended her last Victorian Society of America meeting in Chicago three weeks before her death in September 2014.

She is survived by her daughter: Amelia “Amy” Barnes and her children, Tommy, Maggie, and Allison and her three sons and their children: Louis “Kim” Koch and his daughter Lily; George E. Koch and his wife Paula and their children, Michael and Lauren and Albert W. Koch and his wife Jody and their children Hannah and Ike. Her sister Marilyn Wurtz lives in Evansville. Gwen made a difference in the lives of many people and we will miss you!

A Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:00 AM Tuesday, October 21, 2014, at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 1301 S. Green River Road, with burial in Locust Hill Cemetery. Friends may visit Monday from 3:00 to 8:00 PM at Alexander East Chapel.

Memorial contributions may be made to Willard Library.