Edgar Couch was born at Brownsfork KY, on April 7th, 1932, being 91 years, 9 months, and 8 days old at the time of his death.  He was preceded in death by his Wife Clara Lena Couch, son Anthony Wayne Couch, His Father Marion Couch, His Mother Nola Pace Couch along with 8 of his 10 siblings, most recently Jeannete Fredrick, Rowenna Miller, and Lillian Baker.  He is survived by one son, Tim Couch of Florence SC, and one daughter, Jessica Campbell (Lawrence "Peanut") of Brownsfork, KY, Brother Leonard Couch (Bobbie), of Covington, GA, a host of nieces and nephews also survive.

Edgar graduated from Combs High School in 1950, and soon after went to work for Powell & Hackney as a driver for their grocery supply service.  In 1952 he joined the US Navy, where he spent the next 7 years aboard the USS Hellena.  He was stationed in San Diego and did tours throughout Asia.  He served during the Korean War, and if you could catch him in the right mood could tell some wonderful stories about his time in the service. While he never bragged or talked about it a great deal, being in the Navy was a great source of pride in his life.

When he returned from the Navy he decided to go to Barber College.  I asked him once what made him want to be a barber and said after watching the guys cut hair on the ship, it seems like a pretty good profession to go into.  He attended the Ky School of Barbering located on 3rd St in Louisville KY.  He returned to Hazard and started working at Huff's Barber Shop in 1959.  It was there in town that he met his future wife, Clara Lena Hall, she was working for an optometrist down the street.  He and my mother married in the fall of 1960 and were blessed with a child the next year, Anthony Wayne Couch.  4 years later I was born in December of 1965, Tim Couch.  Dad was a hard worker often holding down 2 and 3 jobs when we were young.  For my father, being a provider was the most important job he could ever have, and he did so with no complaining and plenty of self-sacrifice.  He wanted his sons to have it easier than he did growing up, for that I will forever be grateful.  All of our lives changed in the fall of 79.  My brother, their first child, was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 17.  This left a wound on the family that never healed.  On of my most poignant memories come from just several months after my brother passed, we had taken Christmas decorations to the grave, and my dad, who had been a rock through this all, because he knew to break down would be the end of my mother, he stood at the end of my brothers grave and started quietly crying, he said "I never, never in my life, thought I would be standing here".  His pain was immeasurable.

Life had to go on.  In the summer of 81 Jessica entered our family.  My mother was so happy, but it was apparent early on that Jessie was going to be daddy's girl.  Those were good years, my dad and mom were happy, and Jessica was growing up.  Then Fate intervened again in the spring of 96, my mother suffered a heart attack, and passed away some 13 months later.  This was one of the hardest and longest days for us as a family.  I remember my dad walking down the driveway supported by two other men, he seemed so frail, he had just come from seeing my mother's body, and he was lost, un-tethered.  It took years to overcome this but in true Couch fashion, the world went on.  My dad had his church, he had been a minister there for 20 plus years, and the church and its members were a great source of solace for him.  He loved to make his dulcimers, he made just about everyone in the family one, if they wanted it or not.  His other great love in life was fishing.  Dad would never turn down a fishing trip and could stay out on a lake all day and night.  One of the last times I spent with him he was watching TV and a commercial came on that had a boat in it, he looked over and said, "I sure wish I had been able to go fishing this year", I think that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

The last few years of life, dad struggled with motion, unable to walk fully without assistance.  He had had a heart attack earlier in life, and still felt the effects of it.  We are so thankful he was able to move in with Jessie, into the same home that he was born in some 91 years earlier.  Not many people have the honor of being born and passing away in almost the same spot 91 years later.  Jessie and Lawerence,

Johnny and so many others who visited or called were a wonderful blessing to him in his last few years.  He had been sick with the flu, but was doing better, when he told Jessie that "he just didn't feel like going to work" Sunday night.  Jessie told him that was fine and he could go lay down.  She helped him to bed, got his meds, and told him she loved him, he told her that he loved her too.  Soon after that he passed quietly in his sleep.  What many people do not know is Dad had been diagnosed with Lung Cancer last fall, so his departure from this life could have been so much more painful and prolonged, we are thankful that if we did have to lose our father it was this way, simply going to sleep, knowing he was loved.   Rest well Dad, talk and laugh with Mom and Anthony, see your brothers and sisters again, if ever there way anyone who deserved a just reward, and loved their lord, it was you, I can never thank you enough for all you did for me, the sacrifices you made, I had no idea at the time, and now I can't ever repay them.  I will never be able to pick up the phone and call you, and this will be my very last trip home to KY to see you.  You have left yet another hole in my heart and my life.  Though we rarely said it while you were here, I love you Dad and Always will.

Services for Edgar Couch will be held on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at 1:00 pm, there will be a visitation from 11:00 to 1:00 prior to the services at Engle-Bowling Funeral Home in Hazard. Donnie Oliver officiating. The Interment will follow in the Hall Cemetery at Viper, Kentucky.  Military Rites will be performed by the Hazard-Perry County D.A.V. Chapter #64.