84 NSIDE TEXAS MD / MARCH.APRIL 2014 85MARCH.APRIL 2014 / NSIDE TEXAS MD

God, family and country: Meet Jim and Mona Koonce, a perfect partnership 62

years in the making.

By: KELLY HAMILTONPhotography: ROBIN JERSTAD

SAN ANTONIO // SENIOR PROFILE

ONCE IN A WHILE, you meet someone you just click with. If you’re me, it’s usually someone with a life history you can’t make up. Recently, the honor was all mine to sit down with Jim and Mona Koonce, residents of Independence Village. The Koonces are not your ordinary couple, and by no means are they slowing down. Within their 62 years of marriage, they have experienced more than most: a childhood Arkansas romance, a top-secret government military career, an Air Force ca-reer, three children and a lifetime of wedded bliss.

Jim and Mona are now living a more relaxed life-style than they lived the first few decades of their life together. Having moved into Independence Vil-lage 11-and-a-half years ago, the Koonces are en-joying the full-service, resort-style life, which has

allowed them to travel and enjoy their retirement after a lifetime of “blowing and going.”

Hailing from the great state of Arkansas, Jim and Mona met at a dance when she was 12 and he was 14. From that point on, they wrote letters to one another; before he left for college, he ex-pressed his desire to date her. Her family loved him. He proposed after they dated for a while, and then, in Mona’s words, “we were off and gone.”

After they both graduated from college, they married and moved away to Sacramento, Calif. Jim was in ROTC during college, so the military life came naturally to him. In Sacramento for little over a year, they were transferred to Japan for Jim’s next Air Force assignment. At this point, they al-ready had one small child; during their three years

in Japan, their second son was born.Educated as a chemical engineer, Jim held

secret clearance with his government position. Thoroughly enjoying the foreign experience and the caliber of people to whom they were ex-posed, Jim and Mona both have a vast appre-ciation for the Japanese culture and elegance.

Together, they decided to continue on in the military life, so Jim entered pilot training in the Air Force. After graduation, he was assigned as a flight instructor, with subsequent assign-ments as a fighter pilot. With Mona’s affinity for people, they were regularly in the receiving line welcoming new and graduating pilots. Even now they are still in touch with some of those pilots who have progressed up the ranks to generals and other high-level positions. View-ing their life together as an adventure, Jim and Mona both say, “We’ve just had a wonderful life full of adventure and new people.”

Nothing about Mona reminds you of a wall-flower. She exudes an educated humor full of warmth and love and feels fortunate that she was always able to work at home taking care of her three children and making a good life for her husband. She does recall a few brief peri-ods of employment that she has held over the years. At one point in her husband’s career, he was flying often and she was lonely, so in true “Mona style,” she wrote the social column for a local newspaper. With a broad smile, Mona ex-claims that she loved the work and it fit seam-lessly in with her personality.

While his wife shares the stories of their life together, Jim sits quietly next to her. Once she stops talking, he smiles and says, “When you are living the service life, you have to have a strong woman who will hold down the home. Mona is a true partner.”

Prior to their move to San Antonio, Jim and Mona lived in Washington, D.C., where he worked for the remainder of his military ca-reer running the computer center for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.

Finally retiring from the Air Force, Jim ac-cepted an information systems management position at USAA, where he remained for the next 15 years, retiring as a vice president. The intelligent and subdued man next to his wife says, “I never turned down a chance to go to school and learn.” Holding a degree in chemi-cal engineering and three master’s degrees (an MBA and a double degree in computer science and statistics) certainly bolsters his statement.

Every aspect of Jim and Mona’s life together exemplifies community involvement. As long-time residents of Sonterra, they still serve as ambassadors for The Club at Sonterra, where they welcome new members and enjoy events and social gatherings.

At such a time, however, when life starts to slow down and retirement is on the horizon, a number of their friends were losing spouses and wanting to downsize, so Mona, in true

hostess fashion, would bring them over to In-dependence Village while it was being built to look at lots and floor plans.

After a number of trips to the Village, Mona was finally swayed to downsize from the Son-terra home they loved to a beautiful home at In-dependence Village 11 years ago, where they are still as happy as the day they moved in. With such amenities as housekeeping, grounds and home maintenance, group games, fitness, out-ings, dinners and more, the lifestyle presented itself irresistible to Mona and her friends.

When Jim and Mona are not serving as am-bassadors for Sonterra, leading a Bible study class or traveling around the country, they are happy at home having local friends over for the evening.

“God, family and country.” Jim and Mona are of a generation wherein faith, family and pride in your country are a given. “We are very pa-triotic.” They attribute this to growing up in a church environment with a different mentality about politics, patriotism and entitlements. “We are just happy Americans. There’s a different mentality nowadays.”

As members of Concordia Lutheran, they have a strong faith that they have done ev-

erything in their power to instill a belief in God and country in their children and grandchildren. With all that the military and government ser-vice has provided to Jim and Mona, they feel blessed to be Americans and to live in a land where their family can worship freely, aspire and prosper.

Toward the end of our time together, when asked the secret to their 62 years of marriage, Mona smiles and says, “He does what he says he is going to do.” With a twinkle in his eye, Jim says, “She’s tireless and keeps me moving.” Together, they agree that they have lived out a lifetime of adventure and are eagerly anticipat-ing what will come next.

For more information about the Independence Village neighborhood of homes for active adults 55-plus, call 210-782-9892 or visit www.independencehill.com.

Note: While NSIDE officially adheres to AP style, certain exceptions were made in the ed-iting of this article.

A Lifetime of Adventure A Lifetime of Adventure

EVERY ASPECT OF JIM AND MONA’S LIFE TOGETHER EXEMPLIFIES

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT.