John Cowgill

John Henry Cowgill 1954-2014...written by Ilse Dunbar Wheeler, March 2022

“Til Soon!” this was the what John would end his letters, emails, texts to me over the years. As I sit and write this memoriam I think of it and how to start to memorialize the friendship that lasted a lifetime.

I met John at Casey Junior High in the late ‘60s in speech class. He was always a very studious individual. I know that many of you remember him carrying his textbooks under his arm to and from school. Perfectly balanced under one arm and his hip, but it was hard to imagine that he would not go over sideways under the weight. One of the many sides of this private and complex person.

John’s and my friendship really grew in high school. We were the only two sophomores in Wally Schnider’s speech class, we sat and clung together as the force of seniors and juniors took over. This helped to cement a bond that lasted throughout until his death from multiple myeloma in the spring of 2014.

John never considered himself smarter than anyone else. I think he was surprised when he became a road scholar. And I also think he was a bit stunned by the expectations that came with that moniker. He was also stubborn. He turned down Yale to pursue his own path after high school. And oh what a path.

After high school, John went to Chile for a year to volunteer. He was there during one of the military coups that plagued that country during the early 70’s. He never talked much about it, but this is where he learned to smoke. During his time in Chile we wrote letters back and forth. He still wasn’t entirely sure what to do after he came home, he came back to Boulder after this year, still not sure about what to do with the rest of his life. So less than a year later, he packed up his bags and went to India and Iraq for about three more years.

He learned sanskrit and volunteered in India for most of this time. I have a lovely letter from this time, when he told me about how he was so looking forward to going to a restaurant advertising american breakfasts. Then with great detail he described his american pancake as having the weight and consistency of a manhole cover. The syrup was curry flavored.

John came back home to Boulder after this trip. Thankfully he came home right before the coup in Iran. He again spent time trying to decide what to do. He ended up going to a college in New York. At this time he was in his later 20’s and New York would become his home for the rest of his life.

After college, John worked at CBS in the technology department for a number of years. It was a way to earn a living, but never really his passion as he told me. Then in the late 90’s he gave that up and gave his life to God. For the rest of his life he volunteered and did missionary work.

Hard to write a life in a page. But here are some more comments about John:

He never married. (He said that he couldn’t let anyone in that close)
He never learned to drive (I was his chauffeur for many years, did I say he was stubborn?) He loved music, played a mean piano and also guitar.
He loved to dance.
He was smart and ever so witty with a very dry sense of humor.
He wrote amazing letters
He was my lifelong friend and I will miss him for the rest of my days.

So as I end this tribute, I will end it the same way I started it. Till soon John my friend.

Ilse Dunbar Wheeler March 2022