Edward "John" J. Cody

EDWARD JOHN CODY (John Van Kooy)
22 December 1933- 28 February 2025

John Cody, 91, passed away in his sleep at Care Partners Nursing Home in Clintonville, Wisconsin on Tuesday, 28 February 2025. He is survived by his sister, Robin Coffman, his ex-wife, Linda Van Kooy, his children, Danny Adams, Robert Adams, Dana Van Kooy, Heather Krueger, and Heath Van Kooy and an extended family of nieces, nephews, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and dear friends. He is preceded in death by his mother, Cora Cody (née McKay), his father, Edward Cody, his adoptive parents, and his son, Scotty Adams.  

John Cody was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After his mother’s death in 1935, he was adopted by Jacob R. Van Kooy and his wife Echo (née Greer). He enlisted in the Marine Corps when he was 20 and served in Korea as a Bandsman, playing the clarinet. John was honorably discharged in 1956 and awarded a National Defense Service Medal. After his military service, John lived in Barstow, CA, where he married and had three children. John later moved to Minnesota where he met and married Linda Van Kooy (née Campbell) in 1964. Together, they had three children. 

In 1972, after the death of his adoptive mother, the Van Kooy family moved from the Minneapolis area to rural central Florida, where they had horses, and for a while, a riding stable business. In 1981, they returned to northern Minnesota, later living in Viroqua, WI, Madison, Waupun, and settling in Oshkosh. After his divorce and retirement, John moved to Antigo, and after a major stroke in 2017, to Marion. 

Throughout his life, John pursued different professions and, moving quite often at times, adapted to distinctive social and physical environments. He worked for the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroads in California. He was employed in advertising and sales; for decades, he owned a successful sign-painting company. John worked for the Minnesota Highway Department, and, in the engineering field, he was a designer, a field engineer, a surveyor, a project manager and an inspector. While employed at a Florida Corrections facility, he was offered the opportunity to enroll in university. John attended St. Leo College and eventually earned a degree in psychology and criminal justice. He pursued this degree assiduously, during a period of major life changes, that included moving across the country and changing jobs. John valued his education, his work experience in the engineering field, and his life as an artist, painting in oils and occasionally working as an art teacher.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (https://www.miad.edu/get-involved/for-friends-and-donors/support-miad); the Salvation Army (https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/ways-to-give/) ; or  Happily Ever After Animal Sanctuary (https://www.heanokill.org/donate.html).

The Eberhardt-Stevenson Funeral Home & Crematory, Clintonville is assisting the Cody family.

An online guestbook is available at eberhardtstevenson.com.