It is with sadness that I announce the passing of my husband, John Arthur Cozens of Howe House.
As John’s second wife, I do not know that much about his time at Emanuel School, but he did proudly take me to the annual ‘Flannels Day’ a couple of times which was a very enlightening experience and was lovely to meet up with some of his old school friends. He showed me around and recalled many happy times that he had had there and a few of the ‘scrapes’ that he got into. The one that always comes to mind is when he and a friend nearly blew up the science laboratory (unintentionally of course), but it understandably caused quite a stir!
John was very proud to follow in the footsteps of his father, John Dennis Cozens (OE1937-42) and his uncle, Albert Edward Cahill, whose name is memorialised on the World War I plaque in the school chapel.
John did not leave school with many qualifications and went straight into employment. His first job was with an advertising agency in London. Much of his work there involved advertising plays and musicals for up-and-coming theatres. He was lucky enough to go to many of the shows, but sadly for me, this put him off going to them in later life.
He had numerous jobs but found his niche eventually as a sales representative which he thoroughly enjoyed. He loved the challenge of getting his products into establishments where no one else could and he proved a great asset to the companies for which he worked. Unfortunately, he was made redundant several times due to the companies going into liquidation, which was a stressful period for our family. However not to be defeatist, we both decided to go into business for ourselves successfully owning a convenience store in the final move of our relationship in Bursledon, Southampton on a housing estate. We both thoroughly enjoyed this new venture and of course John thrived as it was selling, which was something he was very good at, as his customer service was second to none.
In the final years of his life John was plagued by one illness after another: COPD, cancer and heart problems to name but a few. In April of this year, after being nursed at home for as long as possible, he passed away peacefully, aged 78 in the Countess Mountbatten Hospice, West End, Southampton.
John is survived by Sue, his wife of 46 years, his sons Ashley and Nicholas, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Sue Cozens, wife