Koken's mother, Helen Hawkins Koken Pickel, was a classical pianist and a beloved kindergarten teacher. Her family was from England before immigrating to America. His father, John C. Koken, was a math professor whose family emigrated from Germany. The Koken family arrived in New Orleans in 1850, then traveled up the Mississippi River to St. Louis. By 1892, the Koken Barber’s Supply Company of St. Louis held two barber chair patents; one for the first reclining Koken chair and one for the first hydraulic lift chair. In 1915 Walter F. Koken received a patent for the first electric Barber’s Chair. 