Louise McCoy, owner of McCoy’s Cookware, dies at 76

Louise McCoy, a kind soul who owned and ran McCoy’s Cookware in Santa Rosa for more than a quarter century, offering customers an array of high-end houseware unavailable in other local outlets, died Tuesday at her Sebastopol home, surrounded by family. She was 76 and suffered from congestive heart failure.

McCoy, who lived in Sebastopol for the past 50 years, loved to travel and had an adventurous spirit. As a young woman, she worked on and off as a consultant for the Peace Corps for 15 years, serving at small outposts in Africa and Nepal.

She also loved food and family and was an active member of the local culinary community, serving as a founding member of the Sonoma Culinary Guild.

“She really enjoyed cooking for people, and having them over,” said her sister-in-law, Kendra McCoy of Bodega Bay. “One Christmas, she decided to do live lobster, and we had lobsters running all over her kitchen floor.”

Born in Mount Shasta to teacher Edith Gail McCoy and truck driver Richard Simmons McCoy, she was the oldest of four and eagerly assumed leadership positions early in life. Her height - she grew to be 6 feet tall - made her an imposing figure.

“She always made an entrance, because of her height,” Kendra McCoy said. “And if people in the room knew her, they were always glad to see her.”

She served as salutatorian both at Mount Shasta High School and at UC Davis. She also went on to get a master’s degree in psychology.

After finishing her education, she worked in social services, university administration and international development and took a keen interest in the quality of life of migrant laborers.

While still working for the Peace Corps, she opened McCoy’s Cookware in Railroad Square in 1986. Four years later, she moved the store to 2759 Fourth St., next to the old Petrini’s grocery store, now Safeway.

At both locations, McCoy was known for sourcing premium, hard-to-find products for the kitchen and dining room, including imported linens from France and pottery from Portugal.

“She loved having items like the Portuguese bowls and plates that were hand-painted,” Kendra McCoy said. “She had beautiful aprons and tablecloths and napkins.”

She also stocked practical objects you could not find elsewhere at the time, such as the sturdy black sponges made by Jet-Scrubz and high-end teas and tea pots.

She served as a board member for the Sebastopol chapter of Bread for the Journey and remained active with the charitable organization until a few years ago.

For the past three months, she received a stream of visitors on a daily basis, a testament to the deep friendships she made during her days in the Peace Corps and at her cookware store, which closed in 2012.

“She was very caring of other people, remarkably so,” Kendra McCoy said. “One time I cracked my windshield and arrived at her store in tears. She got me a glass of champagne and gave me a shopping list and told me to go shopping in her store.”

She was preceded in death by her youngest brother, Kenneth McCoy of Davis. Survivors include two brothers, Mike McCoy of Bodega Bay and Rod McCoy of Anchorage, Alaska; seven nieces and nephews; and a dozen grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

A celebration of her life is planned this spring at the Luther Burbank Art and Garden Center in Santa Rosa. The date is pending. According to her wishes, the family will serve tea, coffee and milk with an assortment of cookies.

After cremation, the family plans to bury her ashes in a vault in Mount Shasta with those of her mother and father.

Donations in her memory may be made to: Bread for the Journey, 101 Coronado Lane, Suite 732, Santa Fe, NM 87505; or Sutter Hospice, 110 Stony Point Road, Suite 200C, Santa Rosa 95401.