John Stephen Coenen

John Stephen Coenen, age 71, of Eden Prairie Minnesota, passed away on Friday January 12th 2018. Preceded in death by his parents, John Coenen and Orlo Coenen. Steve was born in Tulsa, OK moved to Texas to attend Rice University for college. He attended on a full ride scholarship from winning the Rhode scholarship in High School. From Rice University he received a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. It was during his college years that he met his loving wife, Patsy Coenen. He told Patsy not long after they met that he had found “home” with her, 500 miles away from his boyhood home. They got married and had three kids. Steve was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam war, and learned how to ‘build bridges and how to blow them up’ He took his 1st job out of college at IBM and stayed with them until retirement. IBM transferred the whole family to Rochester, MN in 1983. It was a period of time the family will never forget… Although mild mannered, extremely kind and a fantastic listener…Steve was also a man of passion! The first time he saw Star Wars in the theatre blew him away…and that was just the 1st 30 seconds of the movie. Steve brought the kids back another 6 times to the theatre to see it. He was passionate about technology his whole life - always wanted to have the latest gadget and sometime had to sneak them into the house past his wife Patsy! In his 20’s Steve put a TV together by hand, a Heathkit, humble Steve acted like it was no big deal, but we all knew he was the only one in the family that could have accomplished that feat! He sure liked his comedy- John Belushi, 1980’s SNL, Animal House, Blues Brothers…a favorite line was, “We are on a mission from God” - he felt that same way about his life. He could also relate to the character Chevy Chase played in the movie “Vacation”. We took several cross county trips across the USA over the years and had many misadventures and laughs as a family. Steve could never get enough reading done…he would literally devour books, he liked the action adventure ones the most, especially if they had a military spin to them. Throughout his whole life he loved to fish, with his dad, kids and later with the Grandkids. He would hardly ever fish himself with the Grandkids, always content to get their lines ready, bait their hooks and cheer them on even if they caught a tiny fish! Steve was a man of principal and integrity. He was a loyal husband and family man, celebrating 49 years of marriage this past Summer. Would drive 10 minutes back to a store if they accidentally gave him too much change. He taught us to be kind to people, open doors, let people into line, he did this like many things…solely by his actions. He drew people in with his ability to listen to you and show interest in whatever it was that interested them. Loved his Grandkids fiercely, the only time I saw him yell at a man was to protect his Granddaughters 8th grade basketball team from an unruly fan! One of his best lessons was to encourage and lift up the ones we love. His favorite sport to watch was any sport that the Grandkids were participating in - and he would hoot and holler like they were winning the Super Bowl! The Grandkids would always bring a toy or something that they wanted to show ‘Papa’ - he would say, “Ohhhh, what have you got here??” We will miss Steve, but we will never forget him or his legacy. He is survived by his wife Patsy Coenen, his three kids, Ken Coenen, Thomas Coenen and Colleen Hatzung. His daughter and son in laws, Shannon Coenen and Nate Hatzung. His grandkids, Jack, Will and Kai Coenen, Brittany Brown, Addy, Henley, and Hannah Hatzung. His three sisters, Janet McMahon, Cathy Ann Cornwell, and Laura Coenen Hall. Funeral visitation is at 1:00 and service at 2:00 on January 27th. Washburn Mcreavy Funeral home located at 7625 Mitchell Rd, Eden Prairie, MN 55344. 952-975-0400.

Tributes

John Stephen Coenen

January 12, 2018

Tributes

John Stephen Coenen

January 12, 2018

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