John Michael Copsey

With great sadness we announce the sudden passing of John Michael Copsey on January 24, 2021. John is survived by his beloved daughter Sara Copsey, his mother Lorrie Waugh, his sister Robin Kilmury (Michael and his children Brady and Caslyn), his nephew Matthew Bonne (Kailey North), his niece Emma Bonne (Cole Coyston), his Aunt Joan Wilton (Bernard Boland) and her children, his dear cousins David Brathwaite (Stephanie), Holly Arabsky, Dean Brathwaite (Jae-Lynne) and their children, Aunt Marcie Waugh, John's dear girlfriend Cheryl Espada and her children, and Sara’s mom Raquel Copsey. John was predeceased by his father Harold William Copsey and his stepfather Bruce Waugh.

John was born in Edmonton AB and moved to Ajax ON but spent most of his life in Winnipeg. At a very young age it became apparent that John had a wildly creative and inquisitive mind. The influx of sugar filled peanut butter sandwiches certainly kicked things up a notch too! He thought an experiment of violently swirling a toy in the fishbowl would be fun- not so much for the fish. Another experiment involved placing his GI Joe doll on a lightbulb until it exploded- oh how he tried his Mom's patience! When his Mom went to meet his grade 1 teacher she was looking forward to a glowing report. When the teacher realized John was her son the teacher asked her to wait as she needed some extra time to speak with her. The teacher finally told his mom that John was scaring several little girls in his class! Reluctantly his mom took away his large collection of monster toys, until John’s pediatrician emphatically told her to give them back.

As John grew older the love of all things horror and Pink Floyd began to blossom, thanks to his Mom and Uncle John. His Mom took him to see Jaws in 1975. Years later he confessed to almost throwing up but never told his Mom at the time for fear she may never take him to see a horror movie again! His favourites are too many to list, but some include The Omen, The Exorcist, The Shining, King Kong, Alien, and of course the many classic B rated horror films. His sister Robin recalls one Saturday night trying to watch the Chiller Thriller with John. She so wanted to be just like him, but this attempt failed miserably as she was hysterically crying within minutes. She forced John to sit with her in her room until she calmed down. John was annoyed as he was missing the show, but of course he took care of her. The love of Pink Floyd started in grade 5 and the band became his life soundtrack. John took great pleasure introducing people to all things Floyd and converting them into fans themselves.

While attending Acadia Junior High and Fort Richmond Collegiate, John forged many lifelong friendships. He refused to limit his friends to any particular group. Academically he easily excelled, writing essays at the last minute and getting top marks. He loved being involved in band, acting, choral, and those passions resulted in some pretty interesting extra-curricular activities. John’s boundless creativity extended to a high degree of skill at illustration co-creating with buddy Dave Danylchuk lushly detailed original comic book series “Muffin Man & Bran”. Born out of these creative musings and inspired by local VPW cable access Cult Classic – Survival, John’s alter ego Kaptain Zyzzogeton was born, a comic book character brought to life. John with 3 friends formed the band 4 Men with Sight and armed with their best-known single “Kill the Mutants” he built a rapport with legendary on-air personality Brother Jake of 92 Citi FM making numerous guest appearances on the airwaves in character beseeching him to play their single. With a glee hard to contain John would act out his own post apocalyptic skits on-air displaying foreboding prowess and a strong vocation for his own skills as a future on-air personality.

He loved portraying Jason from the movie Friday the 13th at bush parties, thrilling and terrifying all those brave enough to participate. In his final year of high school, he took on the lead role in the play Oklahoma. John relished these years, and his friendships would carry on for the rest of his life.

John later attended the University of Manitoba, graduating from the Faculty of Arts with a major in English. He also attended Red River College taking courses in Creative Communications and completing a technical writing program. John explored several different career options, but the love of broadcasting was one he couldn’t shake. In 2007 he was offered a position hosting on Flin Flon Manitoba’s local radio station. This gave him the experience needed to move up in the industry, and he later spent 7 years as an anchor, reporter, producer and sometimes host at the prairie news powerhouse 680 CJOB. He moved to Vancouver in 2014 and served as a news anchor at News 1130 in Vancouver before joining the Global BC news team in 2018. John read the news with pure perfection, his voice and pronunciation so eloquent and smooth. As one of his co- workers said, he was where he was supposed to be.

John loved social media and he used it to his best advantage to stay in touch, but also to keep people connected. He built communities, and his posts were always so interesting. He was a prairie boy at heart and that came through with his many vintage Winnipeg posts. He loved connecting with people who had his same passions for performers like Nash the Slash and movies like Planet of the Apes and Phantom of the Paradise.

John adored his family. His cousins recall many great memories at the lake. John liked to pass the time driving out by supplying them with horror masks to wear, scaring old ladies driving behind them. He and Robin had an enviably close brother-sister bond. He was a wonderful Uncle, starting traditions with Matthew and Emma such as doing their Halloween makeup for them. John and his Dad shared so many of the same talents and passions. He adored his Mom and made sure to have many long, long -distance conversations as much as possible. He loved Cheryl and was very protective of her. His daughter Sara was his constant shining light. He could not brag about her enough- not just her many gifted artistic talents but also how wonderful a person she had grown up to be. Sara describes John as her favourite person. The realest dad and the coolest guy in the whole world, with the biggest heart. He made her feel loved like no other, every single day of her life. There will be a huge hole without him in their lives, and there will be a lot more food left at family celebrations. Family never tired to see how much food John could manage to get on his plate.

The outpouring of love and memories from so many has provided great comfort for John’s family. Descriptions such as inclusive, kind, a nice man, one of the good guys, incredibly empathetic and perfectly quirky, so interesting and interested, these and so many more makes them realize just how blessed they were. They were happy to share him with you all.

John’s family would like to thank his family of broadcasters at Global BC news for their many wonderful tributes to John, and also Cameron MacMartin and Cynthia MacMartin Klobuchar for setting up Sara’s Education Fund on GoFundMe.com. In less than a week the goal was reached. John’s friends Sean Dillon, Cameron MacMartin, Alex Chan and Michelle Caldwell have been a wonderful source of memories and assistance during all this to the family.

The family hopes to have a celebration of life for John next summer in Winnipeg. In lieu of flowers we ask that you make a donation to the charity of your choice.

To view John's photo tribute on YouTube, you may follow this link: https://youtu.be/ZzmicRFYFB0