Barbara D. Cozad

Barbara Dee Cozad, 93, of Columbus, entered Eternal Life on September 3, 2025. She was born on December 12, 1931, to the late Jay and Martha (Sheets) Dupler. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years, Charles Cozad; sister, Joan Solenberger Odell, brother, Jay W. Dupler, and brothers-in-law Jesse Solenbarger and James Odell.

Barbara was a proud graduate of Berne Union High School in Sugar Grove, Ohio, where she made many lifelong friends and was a xylophone-playing member of the band. She also pursued coursework at the Capital University Conservatory of Music. Her talent and love of music quickly became an identifying characteristic of her life and career. She began playing the piano at an early age, and was a dedicated student of Alice Kindler. She later took up the organ as her primary instrument, and faithfully served as the church organist for St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Sugar Grove for over 20 years. She pursued her talent and love of the organ throughout her life, and was a published composer of an original composition for organ entitled ‘Raindrops’. Many of her arrangements were also published in Keyboards Today Magazine under the editorial tutelage of Bill Irwin. She had a long and professional relationship with several music stores in Ohio teaching lessons and nurturing young musicians, and she spent several years performing regularly on a live radio broadcast originating from a Newark, Ohio studio.

She married her beloved husband, Chuck on September 16, 1951, and they spent 64 wonderful years together. Chuck’s career with the Columbia Gas Transmission Company took them to several cities in which they called home, and they enthusiastically raised and supported their two daughters in all of their many endeavors, often transporting them to music lessons, modeling engagements and band performances. During their retirement years, they could often be found traveling around the country as motorhome enthusiasts along with their best companions the Sorrells, Duplers and Winchesters. They were ‘snowbirds’ who made a second home in Nokomis, Florida, and it was there that Barbara gained an impressive array of more than 80 retiree music students who would bring their portable music keyboards to one of her four classes she taught in the winters at the Kings Gate community.

Barbara raised a loving and faithful family who honored and revered her, and she was always engaged in the formative years of their youth and beyond. She delighted in watching performances and attending every event that interested her children. As her girls grew and her family expanded, she continued to be present and keenly interested in all of their various activities well into their adulthood. Those interests later included her grandchildren and great-grandchildren’s activities, and she greatly enjoyed watching their sporting events and educational endeavors, even learning how to keep up with them on FaceTime. She had a unique ability to converse with everyone about their interests, and had a gift of making everyone she encountered feel as if they were the most important person in her world. She also held a special place in her heart for the many small children who became part of her extended family - often hosting tea parties complete with costume attire to the sheer delight of her young charges. Barbara’s pleasant disposition never met an adversary, and she never knew a stranger. Her radiance and positive attitude always prevailed wherever she went, and those qualities will remain in each of us as guideposts by which we should all live. She had many furry friends and ‘grand-dogs’ who she adored, and she always had treats in hand for them.

Barbara was an avid collector of Degenhart and Heisey Glass, and she loved watching the birds and wildlife in her backyard. She was well-known for her elegant attire and perfectly coiffed hair, and she was as comfortable at a heavy metal rock concert as she was in the Presidential Suite at Bowling Green State University. Barbara was a life-long Cincinnati Reds and Ohio State Buckeyes fan, and she voraciously supported the Brass Band of Columbus, Bobby Floyd and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, and any college marching band that involved Jonathan Waters at the helm. She was a master Freecell solitaire player, and even the most difficult Sudoku games couldn’t stump her. She was a best friend to many, and she took on dozens of extra children, grandchildren and pets as her own throughout her long and generous life. She always had room to make someone else be an important part of her life.

Barbara was raised in the Lutheran Church, and we are at peace knowing she was deeply rooted in her faith. Her family wishes to thank the amazing friends, loved ones and professionals who cared for and prayed for her during this recent journey, including Pastor Karen Asmus-Alsnauer and the congregation of Ascension Lutheran Church; The physicians and caregivers at Hilliard Family Medicine, Riverside Methodist Hospital, Dublin Methodist Hospital, BellaCare Hospice and OhioHealth Compassus Hospice Teams. Please consider a memorial donation to one of these entities in lieu of flowers.

Barbara will be greatly missed by her daughters, Paula (George) Linsenmeyer and Lisa (Joseph) Galvin; grandchildren, John Linsenmeyer, Christopher (Jessica) Linsenmeyer, Major Kevin (Carolina) Linsenmeyer, and Michael (Jana) Linsenmeyer; great-grandchildren, Magnolia Linsenmeyer and Krystian Linsenmeyer; brother, Carlos (Ann Jane) Dupler; sister-in-law, Doris Dupler; and numerous nieces, nephews, extended family members and close family friends.

A visitation for Barbara will be held Saturday, September 20, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at Ascension Lutheran Church, 1479 Morse Road, Columbus, Ohio 43229, and a memorial service will begin at 11:00 AM.