James H. Koan

In Loving Memory of

James H. Koan

04/27/1934 - 02/11/2026

James Harwood Koan, lovingly known as "Jim" and "Pop," passed away peacefully on February 11, 2026, in Elmendorf, Texas, at the age of 91. A man of deep faith, enduring love for his family, and an extraordinary spirit of adventure, Jim lived a life marked by service, purpose, and unwavering devotion to God.

Jim was born April 27, 1934, during a spring snowstorm in Owosso, Michigan, the oldest child of George and Oveta Koan. He often expressed gratitude to God for being born into a loving family where faith was central. Some of his earliest memories were of sitting with his siblings at his mother's knee while his father read aloud stories, moments that helped shape Jim's lifelong relationship with Christ.

He grew up primarily in Holly, Michigan, where his family operated a gravel business and maintained a farm. Farm life taught him discipline, responsibility, and perseverance-traits that would define his life. As a young man, Jim developed a love for aviation and adventure. In 1954 he earned his flight certification, and in 1955 purchased a Luscombe 8E two-passenger airplane. Flying cross-country without modern navigation tools provided equal parts excitement and terror, stories he would tell for decades.

Jim attended Michigan State University, graduating in 1956 with a degree in Civil Engineering. On November 10, 1956, he married the love of his life, Jodie O'Donnell. Their marriage would become a cornerstone of faithfulness and partnership, lasting 66 years until Jodie's passing in 2022. Together they built a legacy of love, ministry, and global service.

Early in his career, Jim helped start Standard Aggregate, Inc. in Holly, Michigan, before entering federal service in 1961 with the Bureau of Public Roads. His first assignment took his young family to Cambodia, an experience that shaped the family's worldview and launched a lifetime of international travel and service.

Jim later earned a Master's degree in Highway Safety Administration from Michigan State University. His career included an overseas assignment in Kuwait from 1969 to 1971, where he served as a traffic safety expert and worked closely with national officials. Throughout his career, he traveled extensively across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and even the Soviet Union.

After the creation of the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, Jim played a key leadership role in the National Highway Safety Needs Study. His work helped influence nationwide adoption of mandatory seatbelt and child restraint laws-an achievement that contributed to saving countless lives. As the Co-Director of the vast Department of Transportation Bible Studies, Jim landed in Ed Plowman's 1975 book, "Washington: Christians in the Corridors of Power."

He retired from the Federal Highway Administration on December 15, 1995, after a distinguished career. Just three days later, Jim began what he called his "second career," working with Outreach to Asia Nationals (OTAN) and later helping establish the daughter mission Bridging the World. Over the next two decades, Jim traveled regularly to Asia, sharing faith, mentoring leaders, and building relationships. One of his great joys was, with Jodie, taking eight of their ten grandchildren to China for English conversation camps that also shared the Gospel message.

Jim and Jodie spent decades mentoring couples through premarital counseling and marriage restoration ministry, touching countless lives between 1992 and 2015. They also led numerous international tours and mission trips, including travel throughout Europe and Asia. Their final overseas mission together was in 2014 to the Philippines, where they attended the graduation of children they had sponsored-capping more than five decades of global ministry and travel.

After 44 years in Northern Virginia, Jim and Jodie moved back to Lansing, Michigan in 2009, and later relocated to San Antonio, Texas in 2017. His daughter and son-in-law, Pam and John Willette, graciously and lovingly provided care in their home that embodied the grace and love of Christ, bringing comfort and unsurpassed care for the final years of their lives.

Jim was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Jodie Koan. He is survived by his four children: Kim Reiher (Don), Pam Willette (John), Renee' Asher (John) and Jim (Carol), ten grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren, and a vast extended family of friends, mentees, and couples whose lives were shaped by his and Jodie's faithful investment.

Jim shared the same life verse with Jodie (which she had chosen before she met him), I Samuel 12:23-24. A verse from the hymn, "It is Well with My Soul" meant so much to Jim:

My sin - O, the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin - not in part but the whole,

Has been nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Jim was known for his daily prayer life, faithfully lifting up each family member by name. He was an optimist, a storyteller, an adventurer, and above all, a devoted follower of Christ. He loved deeply, served humbly, and lived joyfully. Jim often said he longed to hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Those who knew him have no doubt that he heard those words as he entered into the presence of his Savior.

His legacy lives on in the faith of his family, the strength of marriages he helped restore, and the countless lives he impacted around the world.

A life extraordinarily lived. A race faithfully run. A legacy eternally secured.

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