With Love, Sherry
This memorial website was created in memory of our loved one, Bruce "Skip" Koons, 68 years old, born on April 4, 1950, passed away on January 18, 2019.
Skip is survived by his wife, Jo Ann; father, Jack; mother, Jeannine; sister, Lucier; daughter, Laura; grandson, Brandon; as well as numerous extended family and friends.
No funeral services planned at this time. We are making arrangements to take his ashes to Arlington Cemetery Columbarium in Washington DC in May or June 2019.
Tributes
Leave a tributeWith Love, Sherry
It was odd we met at a CNC conference as we both were interested in building automated equipment and we spent hours on the phone and in person learning. Searching the Internet to find solutions. He was truly a kindred spirit. Albeit sometimes enraged if things didn't go well...
I hope we meet again
Love and Hugs to you Jo and Skip too!
The official funeral will be Thursday May 30th. Everyone attending needs to be at the Administration Building at 8 am. Then we all ride in our cars to the Collumbarium for the graveside funeral.
May you and your dad rest in peace. Your dad passed on April 19th. Perhaps you and he are watching over us and keeping us safe. Love Jo Ann
He loved animals and sometimes he would bring the "dogchild" to the office. That was always a special event.
The love and friendship that Jo Ann and Skip had was inspiring. I remember thinking "I want to have a connection like that with my future husband".
My prayers are constantly going up for Jo Ann and the family. Thank you God for Skips life.
Gizmo was always on his mind and I guess went everywhere he did.. I know he would not book a room in a hotel unless he could also bring Gizmo.
His crazy add-ons sometimes drove me nuts trying to make them work. but as soon as he bought something he would disassemble it to make improvements spending hours on the YouTube researching anything to make it better...even if it was working perfectly.
I will surely miss Skip HERE... we had many good times. A true friend,
He also loved chocolate cake that I baked for him.
He would pick up a Roasted Chicken at Cosco and deliver to me. One day I was not home, but he left it at my door on the front porch, then called me to let me know, "There's a 'bird' on my front porch!"
His death was so sudden, and he left this world much too soon. He will be greatly missed.
Skip was an excellent singer even ran his own Karoke biz in his younger days. His favorite Karoke song "I Did It My Way" is a testament to his philosophy of life.
Remember singing with him at FOY Karoke in CA and Bullfeathers in Knoxville TN our "Country Roads" duet. Only Skip could get me up to sing!
Skip had a certain charm when he found himself in a pickle. One time he was driving a carload of all women thru Parker AZ all directing him and he ran a stop sign in his frustration. Zap the blue light special was pulling him over. The cop walked up and stared in the window and Skip pointed to all us with his crooked smile. The cop said never mind pal no ticket this time and went on his way. He was lucky like that...
So many Skipee stories to tell will have to return with more later. You will be missed!
So many road trips and building kit cars and motorcycles/VW trikes, we never took time away from it. We'd go to car shows together, Pull-A-Part (You'd think we lived there), Home Depot, Harbour Freight, and down to bullfeathers bar
Skip and I got into building CNC machines and 3D printers and Skip always had ideas that he wanted to do. He had some good ones and some off the wall ones, but that was what made him, him.
Anytime I needed something, he would stop what he was doing and help me out, as I did for him.
I still hear him calling me "The Edster"... We would talk on the phone for hours...
I'm going to miss him a lot. He wasn't supposed to leave yet, we had made plans to see each other this summer.
Thank you Skip for always being there and for being my best friend. You are truly missed and I know that you are in a much better place. One day I will see you again, and we'll resume what we had!!!
Your best friend forever,
Eddie
Skip was my Heart, mi Corazon, me amore
He was my Rock
He was a good man
He was kind & giving
Yet fueled by justice & occasional tantrums.
He was my best friend for 25 years
My Buddy
Gizmo’s Daddy, Laura’s Dad, Brandon’s GrandPa
He had a good and strange sense of humor
He was trainable
And he taught me a lot, but not enough (time) to learn more
He was smart in practical ways, I have the book smarts, and we were a Great Team.
He was inventive and creative
Sometimes lacking with the follow-thru he loved his projects from 3D printers to Bradley car building.
He was fidgety and unfortunately a heavy smoker (of Marlboro’s).
I actually miss his “bugging and irritating” as he called it.
Gizmo does not cry and sob as much as me. Skip’s loving Spirit stays in our hearts Forever.
Leave a Tribute
With Love, Sherry
It was odd we met at a CNC conference as we both were interested in building automated equipment and we spent hours on the phone and in person learning. Searching the Internet to find solutions. He was truly a kindred spirit. Albeit sometimes enraged if things didn't go well...
I hope we meet again
Memories of Skip - Written by Gabe Beck
Skip was a good person with a unique sense of humor and I consider myself lucky to have known Skip.
Skip was particularly gifted mechanically and I would often seek Skips help with various projects, such as plumbing, furniture assembly, building a kiosk or anything construction or mechanical in nature, since this is not my strong-point. Skip had a passion for learning and understanding how things work.He did not always rely on instructions and could see a bunch of parts and visualize assemblies and their purpose in the end product.He was never afraid to jump right in and just start putting pieces together.We didn’t always use all the parts and often ended up with something unique at the end of the process that may not have been built as designed but always functional, working and sometimes an upgrade.We built a kiosk together some years ago.For me, this seemed a daunting task with so many parts and assemblies.I started opening boxes, pulling instructions and inventorying parts to try and understand how each piece functions.Skips jumps right in and starts putting things together and just says this is a giant erector set.I just played along and let Skip do his thing.When we were done, we had a setup that was nothing like the picture, but none-the-less, an end product was created that was completely functional and worked just as well as the planned design would have yielded.Not to mention, he probably built it in less than half the time and we had lots of spare parts left over.
Skip was never afraid to push a button and not just Jo Ann’s buttons.One time, Skip was helping us get our new office location setup and came across an obscure button in the backroom.His curiosity took over and he pressed that button wondering what would happen only to find out that button was the silent alarm.Needless to say, we found out the silent alarm worked when the police arrived.
These are just a couple of examples of Skips skills, generosity and friendship.Skip was always willing to help and never expected much in return, except for a good meal or steak on occasion. Skip had some rough edges and we are very different people, but when I got to know him, I learned he was a truly nice person with a good heart along with a brutally honest sense of humor as well as someone who enjoyed the small pleasures in life.I always enjoyed Skips company and I will miss him, but I am glad that I had an opportunity to know him and call him my friend.
Written by Gabe Beck
The Love of My Life - Written by Jo Ann Koons
Skip was my Heart, mi Corazon, me amore
He was my Rock
He was a good man
He was kind & giving
Yet fueled by justice & occasional tantrums.
He was my best friend for 25 years
My Buddy
Gizmo’s Daddy, Laura’s Dad, Brandon’s GrandPa
He had a good and strange sense of humor
He was trainable
And he taught me a lot, but not enough (time) to learn more
He was smart in practical ways, I have the book smarts, and we were a Great Team.
He was inventive and creative
Sometimes lacking with the follow-thru he loved his projects from 3D printers to Bradley car building.
He was fidgety and unfortunately a heavy smoker (of Marlboro’s).
I actually miss his “bugging and irritating” as he called it.
Gizmo does not cry and sob as much as me. Skip’s loving Spirit stays in our hearts Forever.
Written By Jo Ann Koons:
The Best Uncle
I had so many good times with my Uncle Bruce. I didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with him since we had so many miles between us, but the times I got to spend with him were always so fun! My cheeks always hurt from him making me laugh so hard, from his jokes, to his wise cracks, to making funny faces at me. We had a blast in Las Vegas hitting up all the buffets and eating our way through Vegas. Disney World was amazing and out of this world, it truly was a great family vacation where memories were made. And, all our family trips back to Virginia for anniversary parties, family reunions, and so much more – Bruce always made it fun and entertaining for me! I admired how “handy” he was, he was a “Jack-of-all-Trade” always fixing, building, replacing anything and everything. I loved how creative he was from building and rebuilding bikes/trailers/cars to his engraving business. And of course I will never forget his dress of style, I just loved his variety of Hawaiian/flowery shirts (and don't forget the flip flops) - you certainly knew when he walked into a room! He was an awesome Uncle and I’m truly going to miss him.