Louise Marilyn Koch

Louise Marilyn Koch (nee Lavine) May 28, 1930 - June 27, 2024 Louise Marilyn Koch was born May 28, 1930 in Winthrop, Mass. She graduated from Dorchester High School for Girls in 1947. In her senior year of high school, she and five other classmates, holding their large watercolor paintings in front of them, were featured in the Boston Globe newspaper, referred to as “future Georgia O’Keefes.” After high school Louise attended Vesper George School of Art in Boston, Mass. Because of her painting talent, an instructor advised her to transfer to the Boston Museum of Art to study. She first thought she would be a commercial artist or then an art teacher, but in the city of Boston, female teachers were not allowed to be married. Louise then worked as departmental secretary at Boston University in the Physics Department and then later as administrator to the Research Director for Baird Atomic. Louise married chemist Dr. Stanley D. Koch in 1958. He worked at Monsanto Chemical Co. in Boston. Two of their three daughters were born in Swampscott, Mass. In 1964, Dr. Koch transferred with Monsanto to Dayton, Ohio. Their third daughter was born in Dayton in 1966. Learning that teachers could be married outside Boston, Louise started taking college courses toward a teaching degree. A new job took the family to Cleveland, Ohio in 1969. Louise and her family were in Cleveland for eight years. Then another job brought Louise and her family to Silver Spring, Maryland for two years, 1977-79. Finally, Stan and Louise moved in 1979 to Guilford, Connecticut, where they lived for 27 happy years. While in Connecticut, Louise belonged to three Art Leagues (Guilford, Madison, and Clinton, CT). Her medium was watercolor. She participated twice a year in the Art League Painting shows. The first year she lived in Connecticut, she went to a beautiful lake for an outdoor art (plein air) class. She painted a fisherman who came by and saw the painting and bought it on the spot. That led her husband to declare that she had lost her amateur status. Her husband Stanley died in 1992, after 34 years of marriage. Five years later, she met Jack DeLucco of Westbrook, CT. They remained companions for over 20 years until his passing. Louise moved to Lansdowne Woods community in Loudoun, VA, in 2004. While a resident at Potomac Ridge, Louise started the Saturday night bridge club. She is survived by her sister Eileen Simmons, beloved nieces and nephews, her daughters Marion Koch Serfass (Mark), Barbara Koch Silversmith (David), and Carolyn Koch (Andy Cobb), and grandchildren Anna and Christopher Serfass, Sara and Jenna Silversmith, step-grandchildren Lindsay Privette, Dana Cobb and Jeri Cobb and step-great-grandchildren Lexus, Lauren, Mariah and Lucas. A memorial service will be held on Friday, July 5 at Miller Funeral Home, 3200 Golansky Blvd, Woodbridge, VA. Visitation will be held at 10 and the service at 11. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the American Heart Association or Hospice of Northern Virginia.

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Louise Marilyn Koch

June 27, 2024