Koch was an alligator hunter and fur trapper who retired here.  He also had a large spread in Lee Creek Bottom.  A hay-gathering expedition to Lee Creek, with Albert Franklin, is spoken of by Bill F. in Old Friends from the main menu.

Ed and his wife took turns with their neighbors, Albert and Hilda, with a weekly game of canasta.  He entertained, particularly us kids, with vividly true tales of adventure in the Florida Everglade, about otter slides, snakes, and alligators.  He told of an attack by a wild boar hog that killed his dog.  Ed displayed the cap-and-ball 44 revolver with which he had dispatched the hog.  He said he was so angry about losing his dog that he took a swing at the pig's snout with the pistol butt.  That knocked out a tusk, which he showed to us — only about two inches long but sharp as a knife that would tear a chunk out of a man or a dog.

Mr. Koch was a WWI veteran and had a collection of battle-field artifacts.  Among these was a small statue, crafted by a German P.O.W. from sheet metal and cartridge cases, that he gave to young Bill.