Dr. Richard Edmunds Coons
January 6, 1940 – February 6, 2025
Dr. Richard Edmunds Coons, age 85, passed away peacefully on February 6, 2025, in Austin, Texas. His family will remember him as a patient, caring and loving husband and father who enjoyed entertaining them with jokes and clippings from the cartoon sections of the newspaper, which he carried in his wallet to pull out at any moment. His children will remember how he enjoyed reciting poetry by Robert Frost and Robert Service during family dinners. His family cherishes the annual Christmas poems he wrote to honor his wife and each of his six children, as he addressed each person while standing in front of the Christmas tree. His grandchildren remember Granddad’s warm hugs, the funny faces Granddad made at the dinner table, his love of ice cream, his love of telling stories and jokes, and how he liked to hold them upside down for grins. Most of all, his family will remember how he started every conversation with, “How are you?” because he really wanted to know. His friends will remember him for his friendship and wit, and their shared interests in hunting and fishing and their shared interest in wine. Colleagues in the legal and medical communities will remember him as a general and forensic psychiatrist, friend, and mentor.
Richard was born on January 6, 1940, in Charleston, West Virginia. Richard attended Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden Sydney, Virginia where he graduated as a Pre-Med major in 1961 and attended the University of Texas Law School from 1961 to 1964. After passing the bar exam and becoming licensed to practice law in the state of Texas, Richard was accepted at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, where he earned a Doctor of Medicine Degree in 1968, followed by one year of internship at Cincinnati General Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. Richard completed a Residency in Psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston from 1969 to 1972. He then entered the U.S. Army Medical Corp., where he served from 1972 to 1974. Richard was sent by the Department of the Army to the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Army in Europe as Director of the Drug and Alcohol Program. Upon completion of his medical service in 1974, Richard moved to Austin, Texas, and joined the Austin Neuropsychiatric Clinic, where he practiced General and Forensic Psychiatry for 41 years until his retirement on August 31, 2015. Richard believed that education was very important since it created the foundation on which a person’s life would be built. As a licensed medical professional and attorney, Richard was a Diplomat of the American Psychiatric Association and a member of many professional organizations, including the Texas Medical Association, the Travis County Medical Society, the Titus Harris Society in Galveston and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law and The Journal Club. An avid outdoorsman, Richard enjoyed hunting with his friends in the Texas Hill Country, Montana, Wyoming, Canada, and Alaska and fishing in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Richard had a keen interest in wine, which he shared with others as a member of the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin and Knights of the Vine and as co-founder and part-owner of the Austin Wine Merchant.
Richard adored his wife, Martha Fletcher Coons, to whom he was married for 47 years. In addition to raising six children, Richard and Martha enjoyed spending time with extended family, traveling abroad, and creating lifelong memories. They enjoyed flyfishing in Idaho, Belize and Patagonia, and motorcycling in Colorado and New Mexico. Richard and Martha enjoyed supporting a multitude of organizations in Austin, including the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Knights of the Symphony, The Dance Club and the Austin Assembly, as well as the Settlement Home of Austin, Friends of the Governor’s Mansion, KLRU, the Lady Bird Wildflower Center, the Texas History Museum, and the Rotary Club of Austin, and Richard and Martha served on the Board of the HeartGift Foundation.
Richard was predeceased by his parents, Henry Bradbury Coons and Harriet Edmunds Coons, his brother Henry Bradbury (Brad) Coons, III, and granddaughter, Sophie Haddad. Richard treasured his family, who will miss him dearly. He is survived by his wife, Martha Fletcher Coons, and six children and their spouses, Michelle Miller Haddad and son-in-law Sam Haddad, James Milton Miller, Jr., Richard Edmunds Coons, Jr. (former spouse Lesli Chandler Coons), Holly Miller Carroll and son-in-law Jon Carroll, Anna Coons Pyeatt (former spouse Mark Pyeatt), and Edward Newbury Coons (former spouse Irina Coons). Richard loved being Granddad to Ariana Haddad Shabro (spouse Vahid Shabro), Susannah Haddad (spouse Stephen Lindemann), Catherine Carroll, Isabella Haddad, Ginger Rodriguez, Helen Carroll, Perrin Coons, Katherine Pyeatt, and William Pyeatt, and Great Granddad to Armin Shabro and Milad Shabro. Richard is survived by his sister, former Ambassador Harriet Coons Babbitt of Washington. D.C. and spouse, former Governor of Arizona, Bruce Babbitt, and many extended family members, including sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, and many nieces and nephews.
A private family ceremony will take place in memory of Richard. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a memorial contribution in honor of Dr. Richard E. Coons, to the HeartGift Foundation at 3310 W. Braker Lane, Ste. 300-704, Austin, TX 78758 www.heartgift.org or to Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Attn: Community First Village at 9301 Hog Eye Road, Unit 950, Austin, TX 78724 www.mlf.org.