Arrangements for the funeral of John Rouse
Monday 26th September 2022 12 midday
Highbury Hall, Yew Tree Rd, Moseley, Birmingham B13 8QG
Family and friends are gathering at Highbury Hall on Monday 26th September at 12 midday to say goodbye to him and to celebrate his life. Please arrive from 11.30am for a 12 o’clock start.
After the ceremony, all are invited to stay at Highbury Hall for refreshments and food and to continue to share memories of John.
John will be taken for a private cremation at the end of the service.
If you are unable to attend there will be a livestream of the funeral on the day. Please click the link below from 11.45am to watch the service.
Click this link to view the service live from your home
Click this link to download and view the order of service.
Family flowers only please. If you would like to make a donation in John’s memory, please consider Cancer Research UK. You can donate here or there will be a collection on the day of the funeral.
RSVP
Thanks to an incredible response, we’ve now reached the capacity for the venue. If you haven’t already responded and would like to attend, please contact Janis directly.
You will also find directions for the funeral venue below.
John’s family welcome any tributes, words of remembrance and stories about him so do feel free to leave any messages at the bottom of this webpage. (Please note comments are moderated so do not go live immediately)
Messages / Comments
John’s family welcome any tributes, words of remembrance and stories about him so do feel free to leave any messages at the bottom of this webpage. (Please note comments are moderated so do not go live immediately)
Highbury Hall
You can find a map of Highbury Hall HERE There is car parking at the venue.
Donations
If you would like to make a donation in John’s memory, you can donate to Cancer Research UK
Please remember to include Gift Aid, if you can.
There will also be a collection on the day of the funeral.
25 Comments
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Sad to loose a much loved and respected friend from my school days.
I got to know John through the Eve Brook Scholarship Fund – he was our wonderful Treasurer for 10 years. Always committed to the young people who applied for a grant, always a lively participant at our Trustees meetings. Such a lovely man and dear friend. Missed very much. People from the Care Leavers service send their love and thoughts also. xxx Sarah
I remember John as Dean of the Faculty I worked in at what became Birmingham City University. He was always supportive and encouraging. I then realised what a small world it is when I discovered a (then) new friend and neighbour in my village in mid Wales always spent Easter with John and family (and other friends) on the North Wales Coast!
John was such a friendly and open person, always ready to share a story or anecdote. I especially remember going on a number of walks with him and enjoying greatly the banter and subtle wisdom of his conversation. And some he always seemed to know where we were!
Only just found out about John
I was Law Librarian at BCU before and during his time as Dean of the Faculty.Enjoyed working with him very much retired in 2017
Not that long ago bumped into him at Riverside Inn not far from Much Wenlock had a good catch up.
Condolences to family
Such a sad loss , you and Janis made 3 years off my live the very best in a bad situation and got me through university with I am eternally grateful for
And y never complained when I time and time again week free week when you could hear me arriving from down the street with my loud music !
Gone from our sights but never from our hearts
So very sorry that John has passed. He will be very much missed by a lot of people. I met him around 40 years ago, through my then partner (and still very good friend) Bob Kornreich. John was always kind and friendly, and very warm towards me and my 2 children Jack and Rosie. I loved his ready wit and sense of humour. He live with cancer for so long, and still led a very full life. Condolences to Jan Edie and George. We are visiting Rosie in New Zealand so won’t be able to attend the funeral in person.
Very sad to hear of John‘s passing and that he had been ill for some time. He was a very supportive Dean to me and the housing team at BCU. There was never a dull moment when he was around.
I always loved being in Johns company .. ever since I met him, probably around 1972!! Almost like a big brother – I was so impressed all those years ago with his use of language .. He also helped me enormously when I was trying to decode my academic future in the last 70’s.
Still talking, still making me laugh when I last saw him in Sept. .. a 50 year friendship. I feel honoured
We became friends when John and Janis moved into Chantry Road and spent many happy times together on holiday in Brittany and North Yorkshire and on the Easter walking weeks in North Wales. John loved to teach and explore ideas , always with lovely smile and sense of humour. He bore his illness with great fortitude but with great support from Janis, George are Edie.
I will miss him.
I was so sorry to hear of John’s death. He was a colleague of my late husband, David Ramsay, for many years. John was one of the first people to welcome us to Moseley when we came to Birmingham 45 years ago. It was a shock when John was diagnosed with leukaemia, but he appeared to make an amazingly full recovery in a relatively short time, considering how ill he had been. I know that he had a full and happy life after that, and was active well into his retirement – I would see him occasionally on his walks around Moseley.
I am very sorry that a family arrangement means I will not be able to be present at John’s funeral, as I will be unable to return from Co Durham in time.
With best wishes and sympathy, Ann Ramsay
John, you were one of those people who lit up the room when you entered it.
Your energy, your zest for life, your warmth, kindness and friendship made it a privilege to know you.
No-one could know you and not love you.
John, you were unique and delightful to know and the world is a better place for all your enegry, good thinking , wise words and sense of fun.
Some people react to a diagnosis of a disease like leukaemia with ‘why me?’. John’s response was ‘let’s get on with it then’. Throughout the very difficult treatment John showed all the qualities that people associate with him – courage, pragmatism, resilience, humour, warmth and consideration for others. That’s how he will be remembered.
Thank you John for so many happy memories from a friendship which began when we were at school together in Tenterden.
You will be missed by so many people. John and I are so sorry we are unable to attend your funeral in person. Rest in peace.
Cynthia and I met John in 1972 at Birmingham Poly. We were often in the same department and even Faculty, but also spent a fair bit of time apart, however we stayed in touch. At critical points in our lives John could not have been more supportive, and we will always be grateful to him. Rest in peace.
I first met John when we were billeted in the same staff room in 1971 (or maybe ’72) in the then Birmingham College of Commerce on what later became the Aston University campus. At that time John was living in Beeches Drive in Erdington; we bonded on two consecutive weekends trying (in vain) to rid the garden of bindweed so that the house might be more easily
sold A further bond came later when, over a lunchtime drink in the Sack of Potatoes in Gosta Green and idly chatting about upcoming birthdays, we discovered we had both been born on the same day of the same month in the same year. We immediately raced back to college so that John could phone Rita, his mother, and ask her the exact time of his birth. Which he did, but which of us was the eldest I’ve long forgotten!
Having sold the Erdington house, John moved to Moseley; Glenys and I followed in 1976. So began an enduring and delightful ritual: beers in the Duke of York with friends on Friday nights and regular parties at our house in Cotton Lane or at John’s in Blenheim Road. Whenever I hear Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ or Kid Creole and the Coconuts the years slip away and there’s John in his pomp, surrounded by friends and having a good time. And that’s how I’ll remember him.
Ah! As age increases so memories fade. It wasn’t the Duke of York (see above), it was the Prince of Wales!
I have known John as a fellow lecturer at Birmingham polytechnic, as Moseley resident and as a friend who we went on holidays with.
He has always been energetic and optimist yet the amazing courage he drew on when he was fighting cancer, and the subsequent complications, was inspiring. He remained convivial and interested in other people and one forgot he was fighting cancer.
He set a standard that is impossible for me to follow. A wonderful friend who I wish I had spent more time with.
I have enjoyed John´s company and wonderful hospitality for many very many years and we have walked countless miles together. I shall miss him so much – beyond words.
My love and deepest. sympathy to Jan, Edie and George. I share their loss.
John was always lovely, friendly, interested and welcoming whenever we met up over so many years at work, socially or at Eve Brook Trust events. He was a special person who will live on in our memories.
Yes, John was a decent person, as well as always warm, kind, witty and energetically engaged in…living. I was introduced to him , c. 1976, in Birmingham Poly’s Sociology Department as this very well-regarded Radical Economist. And he was so supportive to me when I had a room in his Blenheim Road house. Yes, like many others I was humbled by his coping so very long with the cancers. My condolences and thanks to Jan, George, Edie and all. And like so many I will miss this special man.
John was a lovely, charismatic, caring man and was just so very proud of his lovely family. We would often chat about his children mine and he gave great advice and support to my youngest daughter through her Sixth Form and University years. I’ve known John for over 20 years and had the pleasure of working very closely with him through organising and delivering events and fundraising activities for the Eve Brook Scholarship Fund. We used to have a lot of fun at meetings trying to think up new and exciting ways of raising money for our looked after children. He was quite a remarkable man who worked tirelessly for this charity for many years. I used to enjoy meeting him at the MAC for a coffee and catch up and we both always had much to say! I remember he once ventured over to me in Sutton Coldfield for a meeting and was interested to hear that I lived not far from him in Erdington in the 70’s. My last conversation with John was when I rang him during lockdown to see how he was doing. We chatted for about 45 minutes that day and he told me he was so pleased to hear from me that it made my day. I’ll never forget John as he inspired me in so many ways and always made me feel welcome whenever we met. He was funny, charming, generous and a shining example both professionally and personally. Rest in Peace dear John and I’ll continue to think about you in my prayers. My sincere condolences go out to Janice and all of John’s family at this very sad time. God Bless xxx
John was a very good friend and neighbour of mine for many a year, living some houses up from me on Blenheim Road and later on round the corner on Clarence Road….always so friendly, welcoming, warm spirited, genial and as ever with a glint in his eye….he gave me, supportively, so much advice about Uni’s when I moved sideways into HE from film…. advice that worked ! And. let’s not forget those frequent great shindigs on Chantry Road, full of sociability and dancing, Janis and John at the heart of the action. I’ll always recall their wedding, one very snow blizzardy wintry day, when we walked into the city centre registry office for the ceremony, only attended by two witnesses, me being one (by virtue of a chance meeting in the snow, I recollect), followed by bubbly on Blenheim…..and, while I’m on a roll here, let’s not forget the dandy that John was, always sporting an elegantly chic look, whatever the occasion….Bless his soul. Roger Shannon
I’ve know and done John’s hair for over 45 years. I miss our chats,As we all know he is greatly missed.
May he rest in peace X