BURLINGTON | David Reynolds Koontz, 78, of Burlington, died Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008.
A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Front Street United Methodist Church. A Masonic burial service will be held at Shady Grove United Methodist Church Cemetery in Inez in Warren County on March 15.
Mr. Koontz was born Oct. 26, 1929, in Lexington. He was the son of David Kermit Koontz and Colleen Leonard Koontz, both deceased.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Sara Elizabeth Davis Koontz of the home; a brother, Dick Koontz (Jan) of High Point; three daughters, Sara Rebecca Koontz Lee (Barry) of Chapel Hill, Deborah Reynolds Koontz Snider (David) of Huntersville and Cynthia Elizabeth Koontz Smith (Jerry) of Surfside Beach, S.C.; three grandsons, Chad Smith, Alex Snider and Jeffrey Lee; and a granddaughter, Allyson Snider.
David was a faithful member of Front Street United Methodist Church, where he served as an honorary member of the Administrative Board, a member of the Methodist Men's Bible Study Group, the Christian Service Scholarship Committee, the Helper's Sunday School Class and past president of Front Street UMC Senior Citizens.
He was an Eagle Scout and a graduate of Davidson College with a BS degree in business and economics (1950). He held a master's degree in quantitative mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1972) and studied further at North Carolina State University at Raleigh.
Mr. Koontz was a Master Mason of Bula Lodge 409 A.F. and A.M., a member of Greensboro York Rite Bodies, three times served in the East in Keystone Chapter Royal Arch Masons, a past Commander of Greensboro York Rite Knights Templar, a recipient of the Order of the Purple Cross by the Sovereign York Rite College of North America, a past Sovereign Master of Nathanael Greene Chapter of Allied Masonic Degrees, a past Commander of the Greensboro Council of Kadosh, a 33rd Degree Knight Commander of the Court of Honour of the Valley of Greensboro Scottish Rite, a past Venerable Master of the James W. Cortland Lodge of Perfection and a Knight of the Grand Lodge of the Royal Order of Scotland. He was coroneted a 33rd degree Inspector General Honorary and was a mason for 55 years.
Mr. Koontz served as a past president and chaplain of the Alamance Battleground Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), a past historian and genealogist emeritus of the North Carolina Society SAR, and a member of the Genealogical Society of Davidson County. He was a member of Wake County Historical Society and a trustee of Cherry Hill Foundation in Inez. Mr. Koontz was an avid genealogist of Davidson and Warren county families. He was instrumental in locating and obtaining the early German records of Frieden Lutheran Church. Mr. Koontz published "Johannes Kuntz Family in Davidson County" and transcribed and edited "Early Pilgrim German Records" for Leonard's Church.
Mr. Koontz was a special agent in the U.S. Army with Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) during the Korean War. When Gen. Douglas McArthur spoke to the Mississippi State Legislature in January 1952, Mr. Koontz was one of the CIC agents who conducted a protective surveillance for McArthur. Mr. Koontz worked in the hosiery industry for 18 years as an industrial engineer and retired from AT&T in 1989 with 19 years in industrial engineering, human resources and contract engineering. He taught mathematics and economics for one year at Elon College and Alamance Community College. During his retirement, he worked as an on-call assistant at Edward D. Jones.
The family will receive friends and family in the Front Street UMC Heritage Room after the service on Saturday.
Memorials may be given to the Christian Service Scholarship Fund, Front Street UMC, P.O. Box 2597, Burlington, NC 27216-2597; Shady Grove UMC Fellowship Hall Fund, Warrenton, NC, c/o Mrs. Glenn Coleman III, 334 Rabbit Bottom Road, Warrenton, NC 27589; or to Hospice & Palliative Care Center of Alamance-Caswell, 918 Chapel Hill Road, Burlington, NC 27215.