The Impact of a Life Well Lived - Larry Kooi

Greetings:

It is with a heavy heart that I write. A man who has been my boss, mentor and friend has passed away.

I knew of Larry as a kid when he coached girls basketball at Lake Worth Christian, because my dad coached against him. However, I didn't really get to know him until much later when he hired me to coach the boys basketball team at Lake Worth Christian. However, he was leaving for a sabbatical and the interim administrator decided to bring in another coach. I remember how frustrated I was at hearing this and wondering why God would allow such a thing, but He did have a purpose for it, and as a result, I gained two very good friends. Larry, and the other coach that was hired in place of me.

Larry stayed in touch and left a year later for a school in Alabama, I still remember him telling me - Huntsville is nothing like you are thinking when you think of Alabama. Two years later, he contacted me through a friend and asked if I might like to come to his new school to coach the basketball team - I basically said yes even though I knew nothing about the school and had never been to Huntsville.

That year, I wasn't able to find someone to coach the JV team, so you guessed it, Larry did. What fun it was to get to have your boss be your subordinate at the same time - only a few could handle it as well as Larry did. Over the years, his friendship has meant more to me than almost anyone I've ever known. He had such passion for his family, friends and life in general. Not everyone had the same experience with him when he was the administrator as I did, but nobody ever doubted his authentic love for them. He was one of a kind when it came to that. I will likely never know that type of work relationship again. He had this amazing ability of letting you know when you had done something wrong (I experienced this more than most) but never made you feel like a disappointment either. He was a true mentor in every sense of the word.

I was looking forward to experiencing more of that in the year to come as he was going to begin to mentor me in the craft of administrative placement. Just a couple months ago, I got to spend over an hour listening to him share how "easy" it is (he was so humble he thought he didn't have much to share, but an hour later, I said, you should write a book) and it convinced me how much I needed to learn from him instead. He shared that he was wanting to start truly being retired and get to travel with his wife to Europe and places they had always talked about going - and they, of all people deserved to!Though we never understand the "why" at the time, I am trusting again for God to be glorified even in this tragedy.

Please join me in praying for his amazing wife Gail, his three children and the rest of his family as they both mourn the loss and celebrate a life well lived. I will miss hearing his voice and our conversations very much!