10/18/2026
Coach William David Koen
Visitation:
Sunday, October 25, 2026
1:00 to 2:00 PM
Family Funeral Service Chapel
Heber Springs, Arkansas
Service:
Sunday, October 25, 2026
2:00 PM
Family Funeral Service Chapel
Heber Springs, Arkansas
Interment:
Cleburne County Memorial Gardens
Heber Springs, Arkansas
Coach William “Bill” David Koen
Coach William “Bill” David Koen left this earth and was born into eternity at 7:37 on Wednesday morning on October 14, 2026. He took his last breath in his own bedroom with both his daughters holding his hands and in absolute peace.
Coach was born on August 7, 1938, in Crosby, Mississippi. He was also at home at the time of his birth. He was born during a bad regional flood. His doctors, a father and son, had to come by boat to deliver him; and his daddy was away in the hospital. Only his mother and brother and two sisters were home at the time he made his entrance into this life. He was born on that day to Milton Carl Koen, Sr., and Nellie Kathleen Zeigler Koen.
Coach was preceded into Glory by is wife of sixty-six years, Glenda Zell Bittle Koen; his parents; his sisters Doris Cecile Koen Martin and Peggy Dean Koen Sutton; three brothers-in-law, Tom Martin, Jerry Sutton, and Lyn Cothren; three sisters-in-law, Peggy Sue Wood Koen, Easelene Bittle Cordova, and Elder Dean Bittle Cothren, three nephews, Boyd Donohue Cordova, Philip Bittle Cordova, and Jeffrey David Scott; and one niece, Deborah Grace Cordova Wells.
He is survived by his two daughters, Nancy Zell Koen Parish and husband Andy Parish and Jennifer Lyn Koen Jaszczak and husband Charles Jaszczak; brother Dr. Milton Carl Koen, Jr.; sister-in-law Faye Lavelle Bittle McGary and husband Pat McGary; brother-in-law Bob Cordova: two grandchildren Jeremy Paul Koen and Whitney Brooke Koen Evans; eight great grands Kenzie Nicole Koen Goodwin and husband Taylor Goodwin; Savannah Lee Koen; Jordan William Koen Corbett; Sophia Gracie Koen; Brooks Joshua Evans, Ezlyn Ezella Evans, Calvin Evans, and Corbin Evans; two great, great grands Clayton Thompson Goodwin and River Nicole Goodwin; three step grands; seven step great grands, and two great, great grand and several nephews, nieces, and dear friends.
Coach married the love of his life on April 16, 1960, in Miami, Oklahoma. They met in Little Rock, Arkansas, through his childhood friend and wife (then girlfriend) Foy and Macel Kuhn. They eloped three months later and spent the next sixty-six years building a life full of adventure and love.
Coach graduated high school in 1957 as a Gurdon Go Devil in southern Arkansas. He left Arkansas to pursue a degree at Spartan Aeronautical School in Tulsa, OK. After receiving his airline mechanics degree, he could not pass the hearing test to license because he was tone deaf to the sound of airplane propellers. This was a huge shock and disappointment in his life. So, soon after he married Ms. Glenda, he moved to Hot Springs, AR, and opened a machine shop. In 1961, He received a letter in the mail notifying him he had to report for the draft for the Vietnam War. So, he sold his business, moved Ms. Glenda to Little Rock, and went to the recruiting office and volunteered before his draft date on the advice of his brother who had been a Navy pilot. The idea was that he would have more say over what he was assigned as a job if he volunteered. When he got to the question “Do you have any children,” he asked the recruiter how to answer because his first baby was due in just two weeks. The recruiter took his paperwork and told him they were not taking fathers in the war effort at that time. Once again, he was in a situation where his plans were suddenly changing. After his 1stdaughter was born, he and Ms. Glenda moved to Arkadelphia, AR, where he attended Henderson State University, double majoring in social studies and physical education. He graduated in May of 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in both.
This started Coach’s journey into a career he both loved and excelled at doing. His very first job was at Central High/Junior High School in Helena, AR. He coached just about every sport possible in those first years as a young coach. He thoroughly enjoyed being a CHS Indian/Papoose. He left Helena to go to Clarksville, TX, where he became a Tiger. He only stayed there one year, but it was a meaningful one as his second daughter was born that year. He returned to Helena Central where he continued his career. When a new private school was being built in West Helena, in 1970, his CHS superintendent Mr. L.C. Caffee asked Coach to go with him as the foundation coach of the new DeSoto School. This was a very special time for Coach as he got to be a part of the selection of the school’s mascot; he designed the original Thunderbird; he set up his own athletics programs; and he got to build those programs from the ground up. Their first game was played before they even had a mascot selected for the school and was played by a group of tough, gritty of junior high boys who became very special to Coach all the days of his life. For him, DeSoto was a unique experience, and he remembered every play, every down, every opponent, and every name of his Thunderbirds even in his last year when other things had faded away. From DeSoto, Coach went to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to become a Patriot and coach at Jefferson Preparatory Academy. He was lured there by Headmaster William ‘Bill” Garrison who went on to be a close friend all their lives. The two Bills were quite a pair together and Ms. Reba and Ms. Glenda were also very close. He loved his Patriot players and students. Being a Patriot was a source of pride for him. In 1977, Coach found himself a Yellow Jacket at Clinton High School.
There he had a very successful program and made many friends who continued to be special to him to the very end of his life. He definitely enjoyed working with Superintendent C.G. Cowsert as much as anyone he had worked with in his career. He told Mr. Cowsert stories all the time. This coaching position also saw the high school graduation of his first daughter. He always said Clinton was some of his very favorite years in coaching. When Coach and Ms. Glenda left Clinton, with a special family friend Toney Parish hauling all their earthy belongings, they left the state as well. Lured once again by his ole buddy William “Bill” Garrison, he landed at Tuscaloosa Academy in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There he was a Knight. While in Tuscaloosa, he became friends with Coach Bear Bryant of the University of Alabama fame. He often told all kinds of stories about their friendship and talks they had through the years. When Coach returned to Arkansas in 1982, it was to become a Lake Hamilton Wolf. He rounded up a former Clinton coach, John Welch, and built what he called his coaching dream team. As always, he loved his players and students and developing his program, but one of his LHHS highlights was seeing his second daughter graduate from high school. At Lake Hamilton, he got to work with his friends assistant superintendent Ralph Pinkerton and superintendent Charlie Payne. When Coach left there, he traveled to the southwest part of the state to a town called DeQueen. That’s where the years of being a Leopard happened. He worked there with his buying and selling buddy, superintendent Bill Blackwood. He also got to share his years with both Ms. Glenda who was the administrative assistant to the principal and his daughter Nancy who taught senior English and creative writing at DHS. During those years, he and Ms. Glenda got to watch grandbabies Jeremy and Whitney in school events, play sports, and do all the things in which grandparents enjoy participating. Also, during the DHS years, Coach tried some new things, one most notably was a secondary career in professional football scouting. He worked with former Central student Paul Jones scouting NFL camps and university games for players for the Canadian Pro Football League. It was from DeQueen High School that Coach retired from Arkansas education/coaching, but he was really not ready to retire. So, he headed to Tennessee to become a Rebel. He and Ms. Glenda moved to McKenzie. It was at McKenzie High School that his career in coaching ended. He was injured during football practice while running pass routes in street shoes on wet grass. His foot slipped and he hit his head and detached his left retina. And, although he even coached from the press box following surgery because he loved his Rebel team so much, probably permanently costing him his eyesight in that eye, he knew it was time to head back to Arkansas. After this accident and all the surgeries that followed, he retired with 36 years of combined teaching and coaching under his belt. He loved his career. He loved being an Indian/Papoose, Tiger, Thunderbird, Patriot, Yellow Jacket, Knight, Wolf, Leopard, Rebel. He loved his time in the school systems. But, more than anything, he loved the people, which is why so many people are mentioned in this. We would love to mention every student and player because he adored every single one, but the list would be enormous. Just know that if you knew Coach Koen on the field, in the gym, in the classroom, in a driver ed car, or principal’s office, HE TRULY CARED ABOUT YOU.
Following retirement, Coach and Ms. Glenda moved to Mountain Home, AR, to live close to their daughter and grandbabies. There he continued his pro football scouting for another decade. He enjoyed doing this so much. He loved the travel, the NFL camps, university games, the people he got to meet and the friendships he made, the many trips to Canada for various events, and the Gray Cup Rings.
Most everyone is aware of at least some of Coach’s career, but that was only one side of a very complex and multi-faceted man. He had a very right-brained, artistic side, too. He was an accomplished woodworker. He built furniture. Almost all the family members have pieces he has built in their homes, and many friends do as well. He also did birdhouses, shelves, and a variety of things. He painted with oils and watercolor, drew beautifully, sculpted with clay, and wrote poetry. Ms. Glenda did most of these things as well so they had much fun creating together. Both Coach and Ms. Glenda loved to travel and took their girls all over the country. One summer, the Koen family and the Teaney family set out on one of their many co-adventures to the mountains of Colorado to hike in to a ghost town called Ruby. It was so high in the mountains that it snowed more than once in the middle of July and the water had ice in it. They stayed in the only fully remaining structure in the town. So many stories were born in those two weeks together in the mountains. So much laughter shared between two families who have known one another 60+ years and still claim each other as family.
Coach was a one-of-a-kind teacher and coach. But, most of all, he was the BEST DADDY, son, brother, grandfather, uncle, cousin, friend. He will never be forgotten by his daughters and the family who cherish him.
