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MASSARO: Coy left everything to be with husband

By Gary Massaro, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 22, 2007 at midnight

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LOUISVILLE - Liz Coy made a brave choice when she was very young. She left everything behind for the man she loved.

And she stayed with him until the end - her end.

Her husband, Tim Coy, had finished college at the University of Colorado. She dropped out of school at the old El Paso Community College to move so she could be with him.

"She quit college and everything to be with me," said Coy, an employee of the Denver Newspaper Agency. "That's what young love does."

Liz died Aug. 31 from internal bleeding, which stopped her heart. She also had multiple sclerosis. She was 48.

Her given name was Elizabeth Ann. But most people called her Liz. She was born June 25, 1959, at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., to Donald and Isabel Martin.

She grew up all over, mostly in California and also Alaska.

In 1969, her family settled in Colorado Springs. She graduated from Doherty High School in 1977. She was studying computer science in community college when she met Coy.

"We went on a blind date. To a drive-in. Alone," Coy said. "Brave girl."

A mutual friend set up the date.

"You want to hear what movies we saw?" Coy asked. "Bill Murray's Meatballs and Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke."

Coy played it coy after the first date. But a few days after, Liz left a note on his car windshield. He didn't know it then, but he was love-struck. He called Liz. They started dating.

"Five weeks after we met, I asked her to marry me," he said. "I just knew she was the one."

They were married Sept. 27, 1980, in Colorado Springs.

"I prepaid on a room at the Antlers Plaza Hotel," he said. "We showed up at 2 a.m. And they had given our room away. So they gave us another room. It had twin beds. We always had a good laugh about that over the years."

In Boulder Liz worked for the former Denver Dry Goods Co. and the old Alco Discount stores. Then she became a software engineer with NeoData Services, staying on after it was bought by Electronic Data Systems.

The couple moved to Louisville 23 years ago. In 1999, she was diagnosed with MS.

"One day, she picked up a pen and couldn't write a check," Coy said. "Her hand just wouldn't let her hold a pen."

MS hit her hard, gradually robbing her of her ability to walk. She took a disability retirement.

She got around on a motorized scooter, which her grandson, Gabriel, called "Grammy's bicycle."

She was devoted to her family.

Coy had been hurt in a motorcycle wreck in 1999, about the time she was diagnosed. He had a cast on one arm and pins in a foot.

"She took care of me, even when I wasn't able to," he said.

The couple belonged to the Rocky Mountain Region Cadillac and LaSalle Club. She was treasurer from 1999-2004 and served on the board of directors.

The national club had a magazine, for which Liz started as classified ad manager and then became overall ad manager.

"She didn't want to sit around the house and do nothing," Coy said.

She liked to sew and knit. She admired Southwest artifacts. And even though she couldn't walk, she could drive. She often volunteered to drive people who weren't able.

"She was driving until four days before she died," he said.

She was even more devoted to her children.

"She had patience," Coy said.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by two sons, Joseph, of Lafayette, and Christopher, of Louisville; her parents, Donald and Isabel Martin, of Colorado Springs; three brothers, Robert Martin, of Peyton, James Martin, of Beulah, and Edward Martin, of Colorado Springs; and one grandchild.

Donations: National Multiple Sclerosis Society, (national mssociety.org), or Cadillac & LaSalle Club Museum & Research Center, Attn: Larry Lesiger, treasurer, 212 Rhoads Ave., Haddonfield, NJ 08033-1417.

or 303-954-5271