Gretchen "Greta" Coy

January 16, 1923 - January 22, 2020

Gretchen Eulah Coy, formerly of Ames, Iowa, and Lake Okoboji, Iowa died peacefully at the Lakes Regional Healthcare Hospital at Spirit Lake, Iowa on January 22, 2020. Gretchen was born January 16, 1923 in Des Moines, Iowa. She grew up in Ames, Iowa and lived there until 1988 when she and her husband, Richard, moved to Lake Okoboji. She recently moved to Milford, Iowa. Gretchen attended the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Spirit Lake, Iowa. Gretchen’s mother divorced when she was a baby, got sick and had to give up Gretchen to be in the first group of children in the ISU Child Development Laboratory School program. Later her mother remarried and reunited with Gretchen. When Gretchen was a little girl, she was run over by a car. She was told that she would never be able to have children, yet she had 4 boys. After graduating from Ames High School, she attended Iowa State University for 2 years as a chemistry major. Then she attended a wartime program at the University of Texas and received a special one-year degree in aeronautical engineering. Gretchen married Richard Wayne Coy on July 17, 1943 at Fort Stockton, Texas. She moved back to Ames in 1944 when her husband was transferred overseas as First Pilot of a Martin B-26 Marauder in World War II. Gretchen was a past president of the Iowa Home Builders Association Auxiliary, a past member of the board of the Ames Foundation, Spencer Arts Council and Lakes Art Council. She was a founding member of the Lakes Art Center, now known as the Pearson Lakes Art Center. Gretchen was well known as an artist in Iowa Great Lakes area. She was a past art teacher at the Pearson Lakes Art Center and Arts on Grand in Spencer. Gretchen illustrated the book: Bozer Bunny Comes To Lake Okoboji by Rosemary Sackett. See more about her art work at http://www.lucidplanet.com/iwa/ArtistPages/coygg.htm. Gretchen was preceded in death by her parents George Lundy, Herbert Anton and Emma Johnson Anton; her sisters Marjorie Anton, Geraldine Lundy, and Janet Bestor Conant, her brother Virgil Lundy; her husband, Major Richard Wayne Coy, U.S. Air Force, retired; and her son, Captain David Alan Coy, U.S. Air Force, Retired. Gretchen is survived by and will be greatly missed by her sister Diane Lundy, her three children, Gary Wayne Coy (Joan Marie Hagelin), Ronald Wayne Coy (Julie Elizabeth Coy) and Gregory Alan Coy; five grandchildren, Catherine Marie Coy, Christopher Michael Coy, Natalie Harris, Jonathan Alan Coy, and Julie Ann Young, and seven great grandchildren, Noah Alexander Coy, Tobias Alan Coy, Eden Mary Coy, Chloe Ella Clarke, Emmett Dewayne Clarke, A.J. Young and Shiv Datta. Funeral: 3 P.M. Saturday, February 8, 2020 at Schuchert-Lentz Funeral Home (712-336-8471) at 2317 32nd Street, Spirit Lake, Iowa 51360 Visitation: 2 P.M., Saturday February 8, 2020 at Schuchert-Lentz Funeral Home Burial: Story Memorial Cemetery. Ames, Iowa – date to be determined later Memorial contributions in memory of Gretchen Coy may be made to the Pearson Lakes Art Center (712-332-7013), P.O. Box 255, Okoboji, Iowa 51355.