COPPERAS COVE, Texas (KWTX) - The Copperas Cove community is mourning the loss of C.J. Sowell, who was well-known as the ‘Cove Santa’ as well as a beloved resident, Copperas Cove ISD paraprofessional and volunteer.
“He was a big, bright light in this world, and he’s helped me with a lot of things,” Keegan Cochran, who knew Sowell most of her life, said. “When I needed to talk to somebody, I could go talk to him, and he’s helped me grow up and look at the world in a different way than what I probably would have if I hadn’t known him.”
Cochran said she met Sowell when she attended Little Lamb Daycare.
“He helped shape me into the person I am today,” she said. “He’s made me see that everybody deserves somebody to care about them. No matter who they are, what they do, all walks of life, people deserve to have somebody care about them, and I’ve carried that on to teaching my children.”
She said she is lucky she got to introduce her children to the Cove Santa she loved so much.
Therese Lee also knew Sowell for his kindness toward her mother-in-law.
“Granny Lee came to live with us at the age of 97,” she shared with KWTX. “Although we took her Christmas shopping, drove her around town looking at Christmas lights...nothing made her more happy during the holidays than seeing Santa, aka CJ.”
Beyond Santa’s helper, he impacted students and staff year-round as a paraprofessional at CCISD’s Mae Stevens Early Learning Academy.
“He greeted the children every morning with a smile or a hug or a high five, whatever the child felt comfortable with,” special education paraprofessional, Sharon Miles, said.
Miles and his coworkers cherished working with Sowell.
“We were like brother and sister,” she said. “We just gave each other a hard time or a hug or whatever the person needed at that time.”
He worked closely with teacher Paula Hunter, who said he was more than a paraprofessional, he was a partner. She said he was more concerned about the teachers and staff he left behind when he had to leave to battle cancer.
Staff members shared that he always went the extra mile to make others smile.
“When we were at P.E., they had a tunnel out, and one of the kids was nervous about going through it,” Miles said. “So, C.J. says, I’ll do it. You can do it after me. He got in the tunnel, got stuck halfway through. We had to kind of inch the tunnel over him a little bit to get him unstuck, and then he crawled out through the other side. And the little student did it after him. So it was successful.”
Laughter rings when staff remember the funny moments with Sowell, but, now, the classroom where he brought joy is missing something.
“His smiles and hugs,” she said.
He shared smiles and hugs in multiple ways throughout the community, volunteering with multiple local organizations and even the Copperas Cove Leader Press, where his wife of almost 30 years, Lynette Sowell, works.
“He enjoyed labeling the papers before they go out to be sent to customers and before they get loaded at news racks around the city,” she said.
Sowell enjoyed spending time with his wife, kids and grandchildren.
Lynette said he truly enjoyed being ‘Santa’s helper’ and serving in that role for many organization and local events and photoshoots.
“He was looking forward to retirement when he could possibly have that as a nice seasonal job all the time, but he absolutely loved being Santa,” she said. “There’s something special about that.”
People knew how special he was.
“A piece of our heart is gone,” Miles said.
“Copperas Cove will never be the same,” Cochran said.
But, many will cherish the memories they made with C.J., even when his health started to decline as he battled cancer.
“We had a lot of laughs,” Lynette said. “We would find laughter even in the hardest situations, even when he was hospitalized, we would just find things that we would just laugh at.”
While the community and loved ones continue to grieve, C.J. told Lynette what he wanted to leave Copperas Cove with when he was gone.
“One of the things that he talked about in this journey, he wanted to leave a legacy of kindness,” she said. “He said, just take a minute and be kind. Just be kind. This world can be such a hard and cruel place. Just to take a minute and slow down and just consciously think about being kind. And that’s one of the things he kept saying, I want to leave a legacy of kindness.”
There will be a Celebration of Life service at 3 p.m. at Lea Ledger Auditorium at Copperas Cove High School. The community is invited to wear Dallas Cowboys gear, the color red, a Christmas sweater, WWE or Star Trek shirt.
There will also be a meal at Mae Stevens in his honor to follow.
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