FRED COUSINSFred Cousins, father of Olympic gold medallist Robin Cousins, died aged 84.Mr Cousins will always be known for his son's achievements as one of Bristol's best known sporting figures, notably winning the figure skating gold at Lake Placid in 1980.The Cousins family said that Robin had always been grateful to his father for helping his career and that he was also a much-loved and respected man in his own right.Born in Deptford, London, in 1923, much of Mr Cousins' early life was spent around Millwall Football Club, where he was an apprentice goalkeeper.However, having joined the Fleet Air Arm during the war, he contracted TB while serving in Mombassa, effectively ending any ambitions he had to take up a career in football after the war.He had met previously a Bristol girl, Edna Jo Higgs while they were both stationed in Eglinton, Northern Ireland.On Fred's return to England she nursed him back to health and they were married in Stoke Bishop Parish Church in 1947.They settled in Sea Mills. They lost their first son Barry to meningitis, but then raised a family of three boys, Martin, Nick and Robin.Nick Cousins said: "Fred was proud that his two eldest sons won scholarships to Bristol Grammar School and later he was a familiar figure at the Old Bristolians sports ground in Failand where both Martin and Nick played regularly in the 70s and 80s."Meanwhile his youngest son Robin was carving out a meteoric rise in the world of ice skating - a world of which neither Fred nor Jo had any experience whatsoever."Neverthe less, they were instrumental in supporting Robin's progress from his early days at the Silver Blades rink through to successive British and European championship victories and culminating in that never-to-be-forgotte n moment when he captured the Gold Medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics."Always there, whether organising road trips across Europe with friends and supporters, managing fan mail, or simply providing a stable family home, Robin always said that Jo and Fred were the bedrock on which his success was founded."Fred Cousins spent his working life as a local government officer at the vehicle licensing section in the Council House on College Green. He also served for more than 25 years as sports secretary for the Bristol branch of NALGO.Jo and Fred retired to Almondsbury and later to Wrotham, Kent. Jo died three prior to her husband.
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