Connie J. Cowan 1953-2025
By Atascadero News · Fri Jan 09 2026
With deep sorrow, we share the untimely passing of Connie Jean (Stockstill) Cowan on November 19, 2025, at the age of 72. During her final moments, Connie was surrounded by friends and family expressions of love and gratitude, stories of their favorite memories with her, and messages from loved ones.
Known as Mrs. Cowan to the generations of kindergarten and first-grade students she taught at Creston Elementary, Connie will be remembered as a loyal friend, patient parent, generous partner, loving daughter, conscientious sister, wonderful cook, dedicated educator, playful grandmother, and enthusiastic traveler. She brightened others’ lives with her wry sense of humor, intelligence, humility, and vibrant spirit, and instilled calm and trust with her even temperament and can-do attitude.
Connie was born on July 12, 1953, in North Hollywood, California, and was the third daughter of Clarence and Callie Stockstill of Jackson, Mississippi. Connie is survived by her lifelong partner David Schwartzbart of Creston, CA; sister Becky Stockstill of Spokane, Washington; brother Craig Stockstill of Spokane, Washington; daughters Andrea Cowan of Paso Robles and Lisa Reinsberg of San Francisco; stepdaughter Tamar Schwartzbart Rodriguez of Oakland; David’s siblings Jamileh Pott of Sequim, Washington and Aaron Schwartzbart of Granada Hills; her three grandsons; and six nieces and nephews.
Connie was preceded in death by her parents, Callie and Clarence Stockstill, her sister Cathy Stockstill, and David’s parents, Harry and Mary Schwartzbart.
While she was in many ways known for following the rules (she would never be late nor let her home or classroom get untidy), she also relished a little rebellion and was an intrepid pursuer of new horizons. Connie was the first in her family to attend university, graduating from Sonoma State with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, after which she spent a year traveling in South America. She came home with a future husband (William Cowan) and unexpected experiences that entertained her family and later shaped her daughters’ aspirations and worldviews. She and William moved together to his native Quebec, where their two daughters were born, and Connie acclimated to a harsher climate and a new language. She kept a goat and garden, fed her daughters homemade yogurt, took a thousand photos of them in the bath, and brought the swing set into the living room for the winters.
When her daughters were 3 and 4, Connie returned to California without William and, with invaluable help from family, set out to build a new life. She and David met in LA in their early 30s in 1986 via Lisa and Tamar, ages 3 and 4, who had become best friends at preschool. The new family of five spent three years in LA, where Connie obtained her teaching and bilingual credentials and embarked on a 28-year career as an elementary school teacher.
After 3 years, in 1989, the family of five moved to Creston, where Connie became the Room 1 teacher, sometimes official Spanish translator, and lifelong friend to her colleagues. She adored “her kids” and their families, loved watching them grow, and was utterly determined to see them all learn to read and thrive in school. At home, her family looked forward to her quick and frequent stories from earlier chapters in her life, tidbits from a seemingly endless store of knowledge about all sorts of things - from astrology to history to physiology - and her delicious cooking. All-time family favorites include her famous spaghetti, tri-tip, chili, split pea soup, eggplant parmesan, Easter ham, and scalloped potatoes. Her grandsons will forever think of her whenever they make a “microwave taco” or cornbread.
As a teacher of more than a generation of kids who passed through her K-1 classroom between 1989 and 2014, Connie had an outsized impact on the Creston rural community. Every child who grew up in Creston during those years spent nearly as much time with her as with their parents for the entire school year. They got to experience her kind, respectful, controlled, considerate approach that can only come from experience with an age group that she loved and had a special affinity for.
Most teachers in a small, rural community such as Creston commute from neighboring larger towns, but Creston was fortunate during most of those years to have had three (of four or five) excellent teachers from the Creston community, in Mrs. Cowan, Mrs. Skinner, and Mr. Peruzzi. During those years, unlike prior and following years, Crestonites formed the core of the teaching staff with empathy and understanding only they could give to the small rural community.
In addition to her teaching credential, Con also had a bilingual credential in Spanish, which greatly benefited her Spanish-speaking students, some in the K/1 classroom exposed to English for the first time. That also benefited the English-speaking students by teaching them some proper Spanish.
This demonstrates how great and positive her impact was on her community. Many people who grew up in Creston don’t realize, even now, the extent of her impact on what was, for many, their first institutionalization. It can alter your course for the rest of your life.
Connie was an avid consumer of news and in any free time she had, she could most often be found totally immersed in a book or magazine. Once her daughters left home, Connie began to travel again, touring the West with David and seeing the sights of Europe with family and friends. In retirement, she doted on her grandsons, moved to Paso Robles and resumed her yoga practice, took walks with her close friends, and shared many a lunch date with Andrea. In more recent years, her health declined, but she never stopped planning the next trip to visit family or to see the world. Closer to home, Connie spent time with David and her closest friends, who remember her as curious, smart, funny, kind, faithful, perceptive, encouraging, and trustworthy.
She will be dearly missed.
In keeping with Connie’s generous spirit and ideals, memorial donations may be made to the SLO Food Bank, the California Farmworker Foundation, or to Atascadero Unified School District teachers seeking support for classroom needs on Donors Choose.
A memorial will be held on January 31st in Cayucos. To RSVP, please email cjcmemorial@gmail.com