Wayne County Press
Fairfield Illinois
Thursday, Sept. 30, 1982
Page 2

Charles Koontz 42, a well-known Fairfield electrical appliance repairman, was found dead at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the basement of his East Main street repair shop.

Mr. Koontz, considered an electronics genius, apparently died from self-induced electrocution, local authorities told the Press.  The Fairfield man was found in his bed in the basement of his shop. He was holding two electrical wires which had been plugged into a 110-volt Outlet. The doors to his shop had been bolted from the inside, police said.

Mr. Koontz provided a television repair service for the Fairfield Western Auto store and store personnel had tried unsuccessfully Tuesday morning to contact Mr. Koontz on the intercom which connected his shop to the Store.  At about 1:30 p.m., Jimmy and Johnny Cox, of Western Auto forced open one of the doors and found Mr. Koontz dead.  Wayne County Coroner Bob Johnson was called.  Johnson told the Press that a suicide note has not been found.  He said that an inquest, investigating the circumstances surrounding Mr. Koontz death, will be held possibly next week.

Mr. Koontz had worked all day Monday making some service calls for Western Auto.  He talked to many people and was reported to have been in good spirits. However, he had told close friends that he was planning "a surprise" at the end of September.  Only last week he had donated radio and electronics equipment valued at over $20,000 to the Fairfield high school. It is not known if he died Monday night or Tuesday morning.  Mr. Koontz lived alone in his repair shop.

Funeral services will be conducted at 10 a.m. Friday at the Johnson Funeral Home with Rev. Charles Marshall officiating. Interment will be in Koontz Cemetery.  Visitation for family and friends will be held from 6-9 p.m. Thursday (tonight) at the funeral home.

He was born in Evansville Ind. July 16, 1940, the son of Edgar and Ellen (Buchanan) Koontz.  He was raised in the New Hope area.   Mr. Koontz graduated from Fairfield high school in 1957.  He graduated with honors from SIU's Vocational Training Institute in the field of electronics. He was a bachelor.

Mr. Koontz was first employed in 1962 by General Electric Corp., of Decatur. He worked on the carpentry staff and later in the electronics division of Admiral Corp. as a trouble shooter from 1964-1968.  He joined the Wingard Company, of Burlington, Iowa in 1968 as a design technician.  The Wingard Company is reputedly the world's largest manufacturer of television antennas. Mr. Koontz opened his electrical business in Fairfield in 1976.

Survivors include his father and step-mother, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Koontz; one brother Marvin Koontz, of Union City, Tenn.; four step-sisters, Mrs. Loren (Bernice) Taylor, of Carbondale: Mrs. Steve (Melba) Kincaid, of Fairfield; Myrtle Grimes, of Herrin; Mrs. Doug (Twyla) Stennett, of Carterville; and two Step-brothers, J. L. Robison, of Barnhill and Lently Robison, of Laramie, Wyo.  He was preceded in death by his mother.