Marvin Koopman passed peacefully from this life on Saturday, June 27, in Mesa, Arizona, where he had lived for the past decade. Marvin was born on March 23, 1940, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the third son of Marinus and Anna (Mast) Koopman. He grew up on the family farm near Colton and graduated from Colton High School in 1958. After graduating from Dakota State University in 1962 as a student-athlete, he moved to Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife, Darlene (Van Duyn) whom he married in 1961. He went to work for the Muscatine Community School District as a shop and mechanical drawing teacher and football, basketball and track coach at West Junior High. After completing a master’s degree at Truman State University in Missouri, he transferred to Central Junior High/Middle School to work as first as Assistant Principal and later as Principal. He loomed large (literally: 6’4”) over the hallways of Central until he retired in 2002 after 40 years of service to the school district.
Marvin and Darlene started splitting their time between Muscatine and Mesa after retirement, moving to Mesa full time in 2015. There, Marv honed his shuffleboard skills, called the weekly bingo game at Viewpoint RV and Golf Resort, and played the occasional round of golf. He and Darlene continued to travel the U.S. in their minivan, recording roads taken in an atlas with a highlighter to ensure that they always saw something new. They celebrated 60 years of marriage in October 2021 before Darlene passed in March of 2022.
He was a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan with an extraordinary cheese-accessory collection to show his support.
He is survived by his daughter, Jane White and son-in-law, Stephen, of Rowley, Mass; son Jason Koopman and daughter-in-law Stacia of Queen Creek, Arizona; grandchildren Oskar, Jonas and Ella Koopman and Maeve and Charles White, his two younger sisters, Jean Koopman and Elaine Dunkelberger, both of Sioux Falls, and numerous nieces and nephews, many of whom considered “Uncle Marv” their favorite. He was predeceased by his parents and two older brothers. Many thanks to Donna Lesko for the love and care she provided to Marv in his last years.
The family established the Marvin and Darlene Koopman Scholarship Fund Endowment through the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine in 2022 to provide financial support to teachers working in the Muscatine Community School District pursuing higher education. In lieu of flowers, please consider supporting this fund: Marvin & Darlene Koopman Scholarship Fund Endowment
Celebrating 75 years of serving our community