Mavis J Koehn

Mrs. Mavis Johnson Koehn, 72, of Macon, MS passed away at Windsor Place, Columbus, MS. on Sunday, February 3, 2019.  A funeral service is planned for Thursday, February 7, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. at South Haven Mennonite Church. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. Visitation will be held at the church Wednesday from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m.  Memorials may be made to Oakwood Manor, 218 Oakwood Drive, Brooksville, MS  39739. Cockrell Funeral Home of Macon is honored to be entrusted with arrangements.

Our dear mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Mavis JoAnn Koehn was born to Orval and Ruth Wenger Johnson on May 7, 1946, in Moundridge, Kansas. She passed away at the age of seventy-two on February 3, 2019, at Windsor Place Home in Columbus, Mississippi, of Lewy body dementia.

When Mavis was four years old, she moved to Walnut Hill, Florida, with her family. She received her education at Ernest Ward School in Walnut Hill. She gave her heart to the Lord and was baptized at the age of thirteen on May 10, 1959, by Min. Wilbert Peters at Walnut Hill. She enjoyed interacting with her cousins as they grew up on a dairy farm which was operated together with her Uncle Jeff Johnson’s family.

Mom always said that her husband, Glenn Allen Koehn, was her rock. They were married on July 25, 1965, at Walnut Hill. She loved and admired him greatly. They lived there for seven years where their first two children, Treva and Kathy, were born. In 1972 they moved to Macon, Mississippi, where Paul, Jerry, and Joanna joined the family.

Mom was a devout Christian. We remember often finding her on her knees. Bible reading was precious to her. Her deepest desire was to be pleasing to God. She often expressed her deep concern and care for the spiritual welfare of her family. Her life brought many heartaches, but she refused to question God, resting in a deep confidence in Him.

Dad was ordained to the deaconry on December 8, 1975. Mom fully supported him in his calling. She loved people and was very hospitable, often entertaining guests in the home. She made friends easily, freely speaking to them about her faith.

Life brought her times of grief. Glenn fought leukemia for eight years before passing away in 1989. It was soon apparent that her younger son, Jerry, had an auto-immune illness that defied treatment. He passed away in 1994. Through these times, she clung to her faith and found comfort in God, often expressing her desire to be reunited with them in Heaven. After the children left home, she found fulfillment in Church projects such as Bible schools and helping cook for disaster efforts.

The last ten years of her life were marked by a gradual decline due to her disease.

We are comforted with the memory of her faithfulness and trust that she is at rest with Jesus in God’s care. We are inspired to live faithfully so we can meet her again someday.

Left with precious memories are her mother, Ruth Johnson, Moundridge, Kansas;  her children: Treva and Lynden Classen, Macon, Mississippi; Kathy and Jeff Schmidt, Shell, Wyoming; Paul and Tanya Koehn, Otto, Wyoming; Joanna and Shane Koehn, Scooba, Mississippi; twenty grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren; brothers: Edward and Hazel Johnson, Demopolis, Alabama; Roger Johnson, Selma, Alabama; Frank and Judith Johnson, Uniontown, Alabama; sisters: Annie and Johnnie Johnson, Arthur, Illinois; Janet Zismann, Gentry, Arkansas; Christine and Kirby Goering, Moundridge, Kansas; sisters-in-laws: Carol Johnson, Macon; and Marilyn Johnson, Brooksville, Mississippi; Glenn’s family: Gary and Linda Koehn, Garland and Faylene, Ronald and Delores, Linwood and Pauline, David and Carolee, and Calvin and Norma; special friend, Christine Smith; and many other relatives and friends.

She was predeceased by her husband, Glenn Allen; her son, Jerry; one brother, Arlo; her father, Orval Johnson; her parents-in-law; and one brother-in-law, Dennis Zismann.