John was born in the East End of London within the sound of the Bow Bells, on 12th April 1944. His family were true East Enders. In fact, his great grandmother was known as ‘the Toffee Apple Queen of the East End’ commemorated on a cigarette card of which John was very proud. He had a happy childhood growing up with his parents Jim and Doris, and large extended family. There were many family parties and holidays on the Isle of Wight. His Grandfather had a smallholding and vegetable stall. One of John’s vivid memories was boiling and peeling beetroot for hours on end as a young boy. As a result, he hated beetroot and would not allow it in the house. He introduced Jill to pie and mash and stewed eels but that didn’t go down too well.

John’s great love from the start was Leyton Orient Football Club. He followed them all over the country as a young boy to the detriment of his school work. He still watched and listened to their matches twice a week, even whilst in hospital.

John married his first wife, Jean, in the early sixties and had 3 daughters, Jacqueline, Juliette and Jennifer. After his divorce, he spent a good few months in Canada. His Uncle Bill had emigrated to Toronto many years previously, followed by his Grandparents. He was very close to them, and still is to his cousin Kathy who used to meet up with him each year in Florida.

John worked in insurance from an early age, following in the footsteps of his Father, and progressed up the ranks in various companies. In 1976 he moved to Leeds to head a northern branch of Towry law. He met his wife Jill at that time and they married in 1977, living first in Wakefield, and then Batley, West Yorkshire. They had two children, Owen and Katharine, both of whom he was very proud. They lived in Yorkshire for 30 years, and made some very good friends along the way. John was a very hands-on dad, especially on weekends when he would look after the children while Jill played hockey.

During the early 80s he worked for Stafford Knight and travelled by train from Wakefield to London 3 days a week. The guard always had a vodka and tonic waiting for him as he boarded the train home in London. John eventually started his own insurance brokerage in 1990. Hart Owens went from strength to strength and in 1997 he bought an old church school in Chapeltown near Sheffield. He had the vision to see that this could be made into a wonderful office base for his company and with the help of his second in command, Tina, he was very successful. He was overjoyed when his company won a number of awards in 2000 at the Insurance Industry Awards, including Commercial Broker of the Year, Risk Management Initiative of the Year, and Innovator of the Year, beating some of the well-known national companies. He was also extremely proud to be shortlisted by the Sheffield Business Awards for Training and Development. He loved working with people to develop their skills and to help them along the way. A quote from his colleague, Tina, is that “he gave you enough rope to hang yourself, but he’d be there with the scissors to cut you down”.

In the late 1970s, John travelled to the USA with Jill and her parents, spending a few days in Sarasota, Florida. He loved it there, and over the next few years he spent many summer holidays there with his young family, making many American friends along the way. In the mid-80s, he bought an apartment at the beach on Siesta Key and, from then on, school summer holidays were spent there.

When the children were grown and at University, he and Jill decided to move from the beach to Stoneybrook Golf Club in Sarasota. They both loved it there and, after John’s retirement in 2007,  spent the winters there with the good friends that they met from all over the USA and Canada.

John loved to cook and spent many hours over the years experimenting with recipes, especially those involving seafood. In the early 2000s he took two cookery courses at Rick Stein’s cooking school in Padstow. He had such a wonderful time and friends, from then on, were treated to his favourite seafood dishes.

When John decided to retire and sell his business, he and Jill moved from Yorkshire to Llanelli, Jill’s childhood home. Both were made very welcome, especially by their neighbours in Five Roads and friends at Ashburnham Golf Club.

However, things did not run smoothly. In 2009 John was diagnosed with cancer of the base of the tongue and underwent intensive treatment in both Singleton hospital in Swansea and the Royal Marsden in London. He fought the cancer with his usual quiet strength, and in the years after that he and Jill went on many cruises (which he loved!) and visited daughter Katharine in the far flung places that she worked, including Costa Rica, Mexico and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Illness struck again when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2016. This gradually got worse and restricted his movement. After an awful stay in hospital during Covid in 2020, he could no longer walk at all and spent the last two years sitting in his chair, living at home with Jill with the assistance of carers. He hated it, but never complained and was determined to walk again. In recent months, it was determined that he had been misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and was actually suffering from Multiple Systems Atrophy, a rare and horrible disease.

Throughout the years, John has been so proud of his children. Jacqui has always kept in touch and he looked forward so much to her visits and her Facetime calls. He was so proud when she qualified as a paramedic.

Owen worked in Hart Owens for a while and John was so proud when he graduated from Liverpool University in Manufacturing Engineering and then qualified in Health and Safety. He was happy to see him settled with his fiancée Shelley. Owen always had a great love for Liverpool Football Club, and this was something that he and John shared together throughout the years.

Katharine’s love of marine life started during childhood holidays in Florida. John was so proud when she graduated from Newcastle University as a marine biologist. He loved helping and guiding her when she set up her whale watching and ecotourism company in the Turks and Caicos Islands with her partner Kell, and took a huge day-to-day interest in it.

John was also very proud of his grandsons Connor, Kallum and Blue, and wanted to help out as much as he could in their respective careers.

As a family, we'd like to thank everyone for their support and love during the last 2 years which were very difficult, and in the time since John's passing. We feel strongly that his misdiagnosis meant that his MSA progressed more quickly than it may have otherwise. As a result of our experience, we are aiming to share information about this disease in the hope that others may not have to suffer as John did. Any donations to the MSA Trust in memory of John are greatly appreciated.