Obituary: Mary Susan Koch

Mary Susan Kock

Koch, Mary Susan

Mary Susan Koch (nee Piper) was born in Monrovia, California, on March 24, 1926, to Alexander Abbey Piper and Mary Elizabeth Piper (nee Bounds). She and her parents left California by train soon after to move to her mother's hometown of Mardela Springs, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Growing up, she moved with her family several times between Maryland, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

            At the age of 17, she started college, first at High Point College, and Greensboro College, before receiving her degree, in French, at Wake Forest University. Following graduation, she spent a year at the Peabody Music Conservatory in Baltimore, including a semester in Quebec City, at the Music Conservatory there. She was thus a member of the early post-war generation of women who felt they could travel, work, be creative, and raise a family. Once her children had grown, she trained as a nurse, working at Leland Hospital in Hyattsville, MD, for several years. As she put it, it never entered her head to think she had less to offer the world than the men around her. This independent spirit was part of who she was.

            While teaching in an elementary school in Chillum, Maryland, she met Ellery James (Jim) Koch at a church dance, and they married in 1953. The newlyweds lived in an apartment off Sligo Creek, before moving to a 2-acre, non-working farm in Olney, Maryland, where they had three children, Richard, Linda (Liesl), and Diane. During that time Susan also gained a half-sister, Martha, after her widowed father remarried. In 1964 the family moved to Adelphi, Maryland.

            Susan raised her children with a strong sense of independent fun and creativity, teaching them to love reading, the outdoors, nature and animals (including their many pets!), the arts and culture, to be curious, and to love travel. She adored the ocean and the beach; the family visited Topsail, North Carolina every summer for many years. They also travelled the country extensively -- she spoke with real pleasure of the many cross-country trips they made in their family station wagon, and of all the state and national parks they visited together.

            Central to Susan’s life was her love of music. She played the piano from an early age and was enthusiastic about sharing music with her family and friends. There was a baby grand in the corner of her living room, where she taught piano to her pupils, to her children, and to her grandchildren, instilling in them all a love of music.

            Susan and Jim were married for 42 years, with Susan nursing Jim steadfastly through his final illness. After Jim passed away in 1996, Susan remained active: she volunteered for 22 years for Meals on Wheels; she regularly drove to Pennsylvania to visit family; she tended her garden; she liked to knit and sew; she made scrapbooks; she mowed her own lawn till she was eighty-five; and she kept up with the news and stayed engaged in politics, never hesitating to praise those who she felt acted with honor and integrity.- or hold to account those who didn’t. Throughout it all, she maintained her curiosity and interest in others.

            Susan loved her family - her husband, her children and their partners (Julie, Jean-Marc, and Adam), her six grandchildren (Jackson, Austin, Camilla, Maddie, Fitz, and Sophie), and her half-sister, Martha. She will be deeply missed

            A memorial service was held at 2 pm on Saturday, March 22nd, at University United Methodist Church, 3621 Campus Drive, College Park, MD 20740.

            **In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to honor Susan can be directed to your favorite charity for animals, wildlife, nature preservation, or national parks