It is with profound sadness that we announce the peaceful passing of Alan (Annibale) Cozzarin on Saturday, August 31, 2024 at the age of 97.
Alan was married on February 3, 1951 to our beautiful Mother, Veronica Evelyn (Verah) (née Bathgate) who was his beloved wife until her passing on July 5, 2008 at the age of 84. Alan was a very handsome, intelligent, well groomed, well-dressed man and remained being very sharp looking right up into his later years as well. Alan and Verah were dedicated parents to their three children; Linda, Janice and Brian. He leaves behind Linda (Dr. Paul) Prachun, firstborn granddaughter Stori (Simon) Bartle, great grandchildren, Evan and Brynn, Janice (Gary) Keller, granddaughter Janine Keller, great grandchildren Jalela Ng and Jasper, Malaya and Denver Eghtedari and his only grandson Gregory (Codi) Keller and Dr. Brian (Rhonda) Cozzarin and granddaughters; Aaren, Paisley and Violet.
Alan adored all of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and had countless happy times with everyone over the years and was very proud of them all.
Alan was born on February 28, 1927 in the northern town of Cordenons, Italy and moved to Canada as a toddler. He was predeceased by his father, Florindo Cozzarin in 1961 and his mother, Maria (née Turin) in 1976, his oldest brother, Duilio (Dee), wife Josephine, brother, Elio (Leo), wife Ann, brother, Joseph (Joe), wife Nellie and sister Louise, husband Johnnie Bertasson.
Alan will be greatly missed by his friends, his entire family including his sister-in-law Merle, wife of the late Andy Bathgate, all of his nieces and nephews, especially Dave Cozzarin who he loved to visit at The Auto Shop, Angelina, Ann Marie and Angelo and Peter Cozzarin and Bob, Gary, Brenda, Sandy and Bill Bathgate who all marvelled at his tenacity and love of life.
Alan and Verah always loved to travel and they had many adventures driving all across Canada from coast to coast and the U.S.A. as well. Alan’s favorite thing to do was to go out every day and go “tootin” meaning driving around for hours with no particular destination in mind. In his youth, he was passionate about having his own homing pigeons and in adulthood, exploring new places, driving down country roads, being by rivers, lakes and beaches, listening and dancing to music, going to garage sales with Mom, fishing, golfing, following the stock market, politics, CNN, being passionate about all cars - new and old, and most recently, astronomy and the James Webb Space telescope were some of his many lifelong interests.
In his early twenties, Alan became a great musician and played the clarinet and alto saxophone and was a proud member of The Guelph Musical Society Band. They actually recorded an old 78 rpm record called “ Your goose is cooked”! It is unbelievable but true that Alan had the extraordinary opportunity to play with his band at a concert in Guelph before the legendary Louis Armstrong took the stage! Alan had very fond memories of being in his presence and was truly humbled by the experience.
For 48 years, Alan took great pride in his lifelong career as a highly trained, skilled and respected professional Tool and Die maker. He retired at age 63 when he was the manager of the tool room at Bundy in Guelph.
As a young father, Alan was quite playful and loved horsing around with all of his children. Many beautiful photos show how he doted on his firstborn Linda and second daughter, Janice born less than two years later. On one occasion, he allowed his hair to be put in curlers and sheepishly answered the door like that to the surprised look on our egg lady’s face! On many occasions, being a big fish in the water, chasing and splashing his children or grandchildren at the beach was pure joy for him.
Alan loved being a Dad all over again to his youngest and only son, Brian who was born 9 years after Janice, and he really cherished watching him grow up as well as his daughters. Alan was very proud of all of his children and he took great pains to make all of his grandchildren and great grandchildren feel very special.
Dad was especially proud of Brian for earning his Phd at the University of Illinois and achieving the honour of becoming a tenured Professor at the University of Waterloo.
Alan also had a very special bond with Janice’s best friend Geraldine (Gerl) Reid (née Marostega) who introduced herself to him at age 2 by climbing onto his lap while he was reading the newspaper on our veranda and ceremoniously announced, “Hi… I Gerdine!” Undoubtedly, he loved her dearly. She always dressed beautifully and always made him laugh and Dad would say “Geraldine is so funny, so pretty and pretty smart, you know!” Over the years, he always asked how she was doing and cherished the countless times they were together.
The family extends a huge Thank You to Julie and Steve Wayne and family for being amazing neighbors and friends to both our parents for a very long time, and for so generously helping them in so many ways.
Alan spent the final year and a half of his life at the most amazing private long term care home called Derbecker’s Heritage House in St. Jacobs. A very special thank you is being sent to his dear friend Lynn who he really enjoyed spending time with, meeting her husband and family, having daily conversations, watching tv together, and for sitting beside him at all their meals. He was so appreciative of all the wonderful times they spent together. Lynn reminded us that Alan loved to participate in all the activities, especially the musical ones and his favourite song was “Que sera, sera”.
Alan was so happy and absolutely loved his new home at Derbecker’s appreciating the delicious meals, all the exceptional care from all the staff including everyone who works there and in particular Nurse Lee, who he fondly named Lee Iacocca, Nurse Evelyn, Dr. Scotchmer, the owners, Pam and Penny and all the incredible nursing staff who were so kind, caring, attentive and compassionate in caring for him.
Dear Dad, big Al and Gramps, we love you, you will always be in our hearts and may you rest in peace after being blessed with a remarkable and wonderful, long life.
A private family Celebration of Life will take place at the end of September.
Cremation has taken place and a private burial service for the immediate family will be held at Marymount Catholic Cemetery in Guelph.