John W. Cooney

John William Cooney, 78, beloved husband of Janet Cooney, peacefully passed away on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, surrounded by his loving family. John was born in New York City on October 9, 1942 to Daniel and Margaret Feeney Cooney, the youngest of six children.
John and Janet met in 1965 during the Worlds Fair and married on May 7, 1966. They moved to Connecticut where he graduated from UCONN Law School while working on the Town of Manchesters new Bookmobile with James Purnell, (who went on to become the Ellington District Probate Judge). He practiced law in Manchester, served as Town Attorney, and was elected Probate Judge in 1994, where he presided until his retirement in 2011.
He served on numerous committees over the years including the Cheney Hall Foundation, Manchester Historical Society, Human Rights Commission, Town of Manchesters 175 Year Anniversary Memorial, and was a Big Pal with the Big Pal/Little Pal program of Manchester. He enjoyed teaching a Probate Legal Assistant course at Manchester Community College.
Family was the center of Johns life. He was a loving father who spent most of his free time enjoying his children, and lately his grandchildren, with car rides, stories, card games, chess matches, jokes and endless laughs.
He was predeceased by his infant son, Michael James Cooney, as well as his brothers, Daniel and James Cooney, his sisters Margaret Ricklefs and Madeline Cooney Murgolo, and his loving parents.
John is survived by his wife of fifty-four years, Janet, children Alice Cooney Byram and her husband Mike, Elizabeth Cooney Ramans, her former husband Egils Ramans, John D. Cooney, as well as his loving grandchildren: Michael and Kathleen Byram; Gabriel, Luke and Livia Ramans; and Evangeline and Ivars Ramans. He is also survived by his sister, Frances Donnelly, as well as many beloved nieces, nephews and their children.
Johns services will be private. The family welcomes any stories, pictures, etc. about John: cooneyfamily42@gmail.com Memorial contributions may be made to any veterans or first responders organization (such as Disabled American Veterans, Tunnel to Towers), Doctors Without Borders, The Smile Train, and/or Birthright of Hartford. Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as 'Ye always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, some where very near, just round the comer. All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again! Henry Scott-Holland 1909 Services are being handled by Holmes-Watkins Funeral Home, www.holmeswatkins.com