Obituaries

JOHN RONALD COWARD

FEBRUARY 19, 1928 – APRIL 4, 2020

With much sorrow and heartbreak his wife Norma lost her beloved husband of 63 years, her soul mate. In 2013 we lost our only daughter Laura, to cancer, a tragedy. Ron was an only child to Janet and John Coward (deceased) he had many nieces and nephews in the USA.

As a young lad, John participated in organized hockey, midgets and juvenile levels but his real interest was in drawing and painting. After high school he enrolled in courses at the Winnipeg School of Fine Art, then trained under guidance of Lemoine Fitzgerald. Later John entered the advertising field working at Rapid – Grip and Battery, Brigdens of Winnipeg, Reid & Eibner and finally with Daly Display. During that time, he took courses at Forum Art Institute, and design management at the U. of M. Later John was offered teaching advertising art courses for adults, night school at Tec – Voc High School after which he enrolled in a 10-credit teacher training course at Red River College, taking a year to complete. He then was offered to teach art at Tec – Voc High School to grades 10, 11 and 12 students and enjoyed it for 15 years, retiring at age 65.

John and Norma along with daughter Laura went to Disney World for two weeks, great fun! They enjoyed travelling many times to the USA and Mexico.

Ron did a lot of jogging and walking to the library numerous times. He also did many beautiful airbrush paintings, portraits of movie stars and people, sketching, graphic designs, paper mâché, wire sculptures, etc. He was an extremely talented creative artist, as well a wonderful man.

As John grew older his eyesight weakened and he had many devastating falls, sending him to numerous hospital stays. Finally, the dreaded Parkinson’s disease started with him, which he suffered terribly and eventually taking his life.

My love, the years we had together were precious and life will never be the same without you. Till we meet again, God Bless. Love Forever, Norma.