Richard Koe, longtime news contributor to CNNW, dies at 76

   PORTLAND — Richard Koe, a Portland journalist who in his retirement years stayed busy by contributing hundreds of stories to Christian News Northwest, died unexpectedly at home of natural causes on May 20. He was 76.
    Memorial services were held May 28 at Evangel Baptist Church in Portland.
    Passionately interested in the activities of the Christian community in this part of the Northwest, Koe was a familiar figure at many local events.
He was usually accompanied by his wife of 44 years, Emi, who recently retired from Multnomah Bible College.
   Only two weeks before his death, he had enthusiastically attended the Evan-gelical Press Association’s national convention in Portland, as well as a related dinner with members of the Fellowship of Christian News-papers from across the nation. A few days later he and his wife attended a Luis Palau Association promotional dinner at the Oregon Convention Center, followed by a local gathering of a church librarians’ group.
    Koe was born Dec. 3, 1931 in Vancouver, Wash. He grew up in Portland, graduating from Lincoln High School and majoring in journalism at the University of Oregon and then earning a master's degree at the University of Minnesota.
    Koe also served in the U.S. Army, which stationed him in Japan.
    Koe worked for 27 years as editor of Tekweek, an internal communications publication for Tektronix, Inc. in Beaverton.
    He was a member of Chinese Baptist Church and later Chinese Faith Baptist Church.
     Remembrances are suggested to Chinese Faith Baptist Church, 2830 N.E. Flanders, St., Portland, OR 97232.

A personal note from the publisher

   One of the joys of this newspaper ministry these past 14 years has been seeing God provide just the right people at just the right time.
    Richard Koe was one of those people.
    In the early days of Christian News Northwest, Richard approached us to see if we could use his skills. We were soon very glad that he did. Although in his retirement years, Richard energetically and faithfully contributed immeasurably to our newspaper operation with literally hundreds of well written news stories. He consistently met deadline, was extremely conscientious in his labors, and always represented both CNNW and his Savior well.
    Beyond that, he was just a good friend, with a quiet, sweet spirit. He was a blessing to us, and to many. He will be greatly missed.
    Our prayers and hugs are with his wonderful wife, Emi, who has shown herself to be a real partner in all of Richard’s endeavors.

                                                  John Fortmeyer, CNNW publisher