Simone N. Koch

Simone (Levasseur) Koch, a pioneer in organizing in youth sports for girls in Quincy and a long-time advocate for local charities, passed away peacefully surrounded by family at home in North Quincy. She was 87.

Mrs. Koch created the City’s first softball league for girls in 1952 as part of the Koch Club recreation and charity organization started by her husband, Richard Koch, a few years earlier. A talented shortstop herself, the league founded by Mrs. Koch provided young girls the same opportunity for participation, self-esteem and camaraderie that had previously been largely reserved for boys.

The softball league and the Koch Club’s charitable work would ultimately touch the lives of thousands of young people and those in need for decades in Quincy, with Mrs. Koch leading the group’s annual Christmas charitable drive during the Koch Club’s most formative years. The legacy of the Koch Club Mrs. Koch helped build continues today in the City’s annual Flag Day Parade and Celebration and an annual scholarship for high school graduates.

She was inducted in the North Quincy High School Hall of Fame in 2016 for her contributions to the young people of the City and named the Grand Marshal of the Flag Day Parade in 1998.

Mrs. Koch was born in Maine as the 12^th of 14 children, and moved to Quincy when she was 14. In addition to her contributions to the City she loved, Mrs. Koch’s passions were her faith and her large family. She was a highly active parishioner of Sacred Heart Parish in North Quincy for more than 70 years, and was a daily communicant and brought communion to the homebound for many years.

She cherished the fact that she nearly always surrounded by family for much of her life, including her 8 children, 14 grandchildren to 16 great-grandchildren today. The family was blessed to have been able to spend time with Mrs. Koch in the days and weeks before her passing.

Mrs. Koch is predeceased by her beloved husband Richard J. Koch. Loving mother of Linda Bowes and her husband Thomas of Quincy, Richard J. Koch, Jr. (Brewster Police Chief) and his wife Nancy of Brewster, Susan Larsen and her husband Glenn of Hyannis, Debra Eaton and her husband Bill of Quincy, Thomas P, Koch (Mayor of Quincy) and his wife Christine, Simone J. Leary and her husband Ed of Quincy and the late Nicole Koch and Joseph Koch. Cherished grandmother of 14 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. Devoted sister of Chanel Levasseur. Also survived by many nieces and nephews.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend the visiting hours on Wednesday, July 5, 3-8 PM in Our Lady’s Chapel at Sacred Heart Church, 386 Hancock Street, Quincy. A Celebration of Life Service will be held in the Keohane Funeral Home, 785 Hancock St., QUINCY at 9 AM on Thursday, July 6, prior to the Funeral Mass in Sacred Heart Church, Quincy at 10 AM. Burial in Mt. Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Simone may be made to The Koch Club Scholarship Fund c/o City Treasurer 1305 Hancock Street, Quincy, MA and Sacred Heart Church Elevator Fund, 386 Hancock Street, Quincy, MA 02171.