Wayne H. Koch

Wayne H Koch of Saint Charles, MO, passed away on Friday, October 5, 2018 at the age of 79. Beloved husband of JoAnne Koch (nee: Richardson); Devoted father of Gina (Tammy) Graves, Douglas (Gina) Koch, Kelly Koch, Candace Koch (Robert) Wysocki, and Bradley (Ana) Koch; Loving grandfather of Ashley (Shawn) Fritz, Adam Koch, Ryan Mikulus, Melanie Mikulus, Amber (Chad) Boeckman, Sam Mikulus, Faith Rios, Taylor Poirier, Blake Koch, Jordyn Wysocki, John Graves, Ania Koch, one great grandchild, Lilah Fritz, and his furry friend, Petey. He is preceded in death by his beloved parents, George and Esther Koch.

Wayne was successful at everything he did, starting in grade school where his job was to raise and lower the American flag every day. He was passionate about cars and spent most of his career racing or working on them. His racing career was cut short by the birth of his first child and starting a family. He operated a very successful auto repair business in St Charles for twenty years. During his “retirement” Wayne went to work at Walmart where he not only assembled products for sale but could do almost anything from plumbing to carpentry work. He loved his job and his co-workers adored him. His “retirement” lasted 13 1/2 years!

In 2004 Wayne’s new passion became “Mr. Smiley Face”. Mr Smiley Face began as a big yellow smiley face painted on the backyard barn that faces a busy street and was created in hopes of making people smile when they passed by. It quickly became a very popular St Charles landmark with a very large Facebook following! It made him happy and helped him focus on the good stuff during the difficult times.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or the Immanuel Lutheran Music Department.