Cloudy and Windy, 55° F
(May 17, 2001)
Funeral services for Fred Fawcett Cozzens, 84, who died Thursday, May 17 at the Powell Nursing Home, will be Wednesday, May 23 at 10 a.m. at the Powell Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A viewing is scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight (Tuesday) at Miratsky-Easton Funeral Home. There will be no graveside services.
Mr. Cozzens was born July 3, 1916, in Byron to Joseph Francis Cozzens and Bertha (Fawcett) Cozzens. He was baptized in the LDS Church in 1926.
The family moved to Powell in 1925 and later to a farm near Ralston in 1926.
He graduated from Powell High School in 1935. While growing up on the family farm near Ralston, he worked as a sheepherder and camp tender for his father's sheep company, with a homestead on Heart Mountain and grazing leases in the Beartooth Mountains. After high school, he continued to work for the Cozzens Sheep Company, the Two Dot Ranch and Taggart Construction Co.
He married Barbara June Evans in February of 1942 in Billings, Mont. They were divorced in March of 1952.
Mr. Cozzens was drafted into the U.S. Army in April of 1942 and served with the 10th Mountain Division in Europe during World War II. His division was sent to Italy in January, 1945, and served in the Po Valley and Northern Apennines. He received an honorable discharge in November of 1945.
After returning to Powell, he worked briefly again for Taggart Construction Co. and then joined Texaco, working as a rig hand at its Black Mountain field east of Lucerne. He then joined Marathon Pipeline Co. in May of 1947 where he became a heavy equipment operator. He worked 31 years for Marathon, retiring in 1979. He also wrote and published an instructional manual about the best ways to move earth with a backhoe, as it was a professional concern to him.
On Dec. 5, 1952, he married Lucy Elizabeth Watzel. They had three children. The family lived on a small farm near Garland from 1954 until his retirement in 1979.
Survivors include a daughter, Sue Cozzens, in Billings, Mont.; two sons, A.J. Cozzens and wife Donna Mathews in Powell and Jim Cozzens and wife Lisa Ray in Spring, Texas; four brothers, Francis Cozzens of Powell, Mel Cozzens and wife Betty in Cody, John Cozzens and wife Minnie in Powell and Matt Cozzens and wife Vesa in Ralston; a sister, Olive Hawkins and husband Charles of Cody; three grandchildren, Sean Ray-Cozzens, Julian Ray-Cozzens and Tessa Ray-Cozzens, all of Spring, Texas; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Mr. Cozzens' lifelong hobbies included exploring over the next hill, amateur rockhounding, camping, fishing and hunting. He also enjoyed welding and built various trailers and horseshoeing apparatus.
He was preceded in death by his parents and sister-in-law, Beulah Fay Cozzens.
For those who wish, the family would appreciate memorials sent to the National Alliance of Mentally Ill (NAMI)-Park County, 720 Platinum, Cody, WY 82414 or the Alzheimer's Association, Wyoming chapter, P.O. Box 851, Casper, WY 82602-0851.
