Constance "Connie" Coy

Constance “Connie” Coy, age 90, of Des Moines, IA and Summerfield, FL, passed peacefully on May 12, 2023. Connie was born in Chicago, IL to Robert George and Rosalind (Gandert) Anderson on August 3, 1932. She grew up in the hotels her father managed throughout the Midwest, before settling in Des Moines. That’s where she met and married the love of her life, Harry Coy.

She was active at her kids’ schools, the community, and Eastern Star. She mentored hundreds of young women working with Rainbow for Girls. Always a serving warrior, she worked in the community to support Beaverdale Neighborhood Association, St John’s Lutheran Church, and Des Moines retired firefighters and widows. Through the pain of losing multiple husbands, she turned her pain into passion ensuring other widows were taken care of and volunteered with LADOS, Hospice, Nobelles, YEWS, and LLAF. She knew how difficult it was to eat alone and formed a group “Never Eat Alone” which met every Tuesday at Olive Garden. This group flourished and so many felt the love and sense of being by always having a seat at the table. Connie never met a stranger and was a loyal friend to those who knew her. She has been referred to as the “last of the grand dames” and highly admired for her sense of style and generation discipline that is a lost art. Other passions included cheering on her Iowa Hawkeyes, making centerpieces for local ladies’ luncheons, and puttering in her beautiful garden.

Connie loved her expansive family, which included anyone she met, and she made sure to know their story. She represented her precinct as the delegate for the Iowa caucus and was often a person of interest candidates initially caucused before going public.

Connie is survived by her wonderful, blended family -- David Lance Coy, Jane Coy Ellen McCann, Douglas Michael Coy (Mary), Wanda Coy, Catherine Keli Davis (Scott), 15 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and 5 great-great-grandchildren. Connie was reunited with her parents, brother Robert Anderson III, husbands Duane R. Johnston, Harry B. Coy, Jr., Blake P. Walker, Paul R. McMahon, and daughters Patricia Louise Coy and Linda Coy Locke.

The family wants to thank her friends who took care of her and the wonderful support of her church family at St Pius X Catholic Church (Urbandale, IA), St Timothy’s Catholic Church (The Villages, FL), and most recently the care team at Ted and Diane Brandley House (Summerfield, FL).

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to Tunnel to Towers Foundation or Hospice Foundation of America. Her funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday, August 18, 2023, at St. Pius X Catholic Church, 3663 66th Street, Urbandale, IA 50322, with a private burial at Glendale Cemetery.

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