Pocock, Rodney William

Rodney William Pocock was born to Dallas (Schettler) Pocock 
and Rodney Pocock in Alameda, Calif.

He graduated from Alameda High School in 1959 and went to 
Brigham Young University. He interrupted his college career 
to serve an LDS mission, then graduated from BYU with a 
degree in performance piano and music education in 1963.

Rod was a wonderfully gifted music teacher and performer, 
building a successful elementary/middle school music 
program in Spanish Fork, Utah, after graduation from BYU. 
After five years in Spanish Fork, he was offered the 
opportunity to team teach with his best friend, Emil Geddes, at 
Edna Hill School in Brentwood, Calif. After 10 of the best 
years of his teaching career at Edna Hill, Rod decided to start 
a piano repair and tuning business.

He married his life-mate, Joslyn Stephens, a CPA from Antioch, 
Calif., in 1976, retired from teaching and began an exciting 
future that included building a successful piano tuning and 
repair business in northern Utah; owning and managing piano 
and organ stores in Utah, California and Mississippi; 
concertizing all over the United States for Wurlitzer Organ 
Co.; returning to school to earn a master's degree in education 
at Mississippi State University in Starkville and working as a 
school administrator for many years in Idaho, Texas, Alaska 
and California. 

Of all his accomplishments, Rod was proudest of his U.S. 
patent earned while developing the state-wide homeschool 
support program in Alaska named Interior Distance Education 
of Alaska. He utilized the concepts of IDEA in a charter 
school he began and operated for five years in the Knightsen 
School District named HomeSmartKids, which he used to earn 
his education doctorate.

He and Joslyn bought and remodeled old homes in every 
place they lived, including his last home in Gilmanton, N.H. 
After retiring in 2005, he and Joslyn embarked on an exciting 
future of big game hunting, with safaris in North America, 
South America and South Africa, and cruises all over the 
world.

They decided to return to the work force in 2009. Rod was the 
assessment coordinator for John Tyler High School in Tyler, 
Texas. Because of their daughter's (Danielle Forsyth) health, 
they resigned and returned to New Hampshire at Christmas.

Rod loved life and all it had to offer. His "unfinished business" 
centered around teaching his grandson "Bucky" to play chess 
and giving a concert recital. Grandpa of six, "uncle" to many 
and brother of Wanda Johnson and Jerry Wilcox, Rod was best 
known for his big smile and jolly humor, which were forever 
dimmed following a sudden and unexpected heart attack in 
Concord, N.H., on Feb. 4, 2010.

Rod's parents, brother, niece (Sherry Johnson) and adored 
brother-in-law (Wayne Johnson) preceded him in death and are 
lovingly waiting to see him again.

A funeral will be held at 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 17, at the 
Chapel at Holy Cross Cemetery in Antioch, Calif.

Our dearly beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and 
uncle would have appreciated donations in his name to St. 
Jude Children's Research Hospital , Tribute Program, P.O. Box 
1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, TN 38148-0142.

Arrangements were by Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette 
Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Laconia, N.H. For more 
information and to view an online memorial go to 
wwwiIkinsonbeane.com.

Published in Daily News-Miner on February 13, 2010