Frank E. Kozikowski, “Koz”, 81, of East Glastonbury, passed away unexpectedly, but peacefully, with his wife, Maryann (Tavano) Kozikowski, by his side, on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, at Savannah Memorial Health Hospital.

Born January 12, 1943, in Middletown, he was the son of the late Frank L. and Josephine (Mazur) Kozikowski. He lived a rambunctious young life in Bristol. Many family outings were to model airplane events where Frank excelled in model airplane u-controlled flight, winning many competitions. He developed a life-long love of flying and proudly earned his pilot’s certificate.

He graduated Bristol Eastern High School, studied aeronautics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; graduated University of Hartford with a BS in Biology; and graduated Central Connecticut State University with a MS in Industrial Arts. In college, he was a member of Upsilon Xi Fraternity and many of the members remained good friends to this day.

Frank taught carpentry and woodworking at George J. Penney High School in East Hartford. Many of his students became lifelong friends. Some, like Robert Coiteux, Gerald Cloutier, and Lenny Gagne became ‘family’.

Eventually he became self-employed and was able to schedule jobs around other interests.
He especially enjoyed fishing and hunting. Early in his marriage, Frank mapped out a road trip to Alaska where he introduced his wife to a summer of fishing and hunting. It was such a memorable experience they traveled back to Alaska two years later. Owning property in New York gave Frank and Maryann the opportunity and benefits of spending many days fishing Lake Ontario. He looked forward to deer season every year. He often traveled to hunt and fill the freezer with wild boar, moose and bear meat.

Always the teacher, he taught the hunter safety course for the Connecticut Conservation Education Program.

Frank enjoyed skeet shooting and served as president of the Eastern Connecticut Skeet Club. He was a member of the Colchester Fish & Game Club where he shot on the Hawks Skeet team and served as skeet chairman for many years.

He restored two street rods and delighted in traveling throughout the eastern United States and Maritime Provinces of Canada to attend car shows. When cold weather came, Frank and Maryann traveled south to Myrtle Beach to enjoy the sunshine and lack of snow for a couple of months.

Throughout the years much time was spent searching bookstores to collect and read mystery books featuring private detectives.

Frank was a quick-witted man with a wonderful sense of humor. He was clever and filled with knowledge through life experiences: teacher, carpenter, mechanic, contractor, fisherman, hunter, avid reader – he could fix or build anything, always after first creating a plan.

Frank was predeceased by his brothers Thomas Kozikowski and Larry Kozikowski, and his brother-in-law, Louis J. Tavano Sr.

Along with his beloved wife, he is survived by a brother John Kozikowski and his wife Nancy (Tollmann) and sons Gregory and Kirk; two sisters, Doreen Kozikowski Brewster and her husband William, and daughter Anna, and Ann Kozikowski and her husband, Edwin Lewis; his two sisters-in-law, Judith (Tavano) Gardner and her husband Ross, and June (Bonzani) Tavano and her son, Louis J. Tavano, Jr. and his wife Kelly (Rech), and her daughter Theresa (Tavano) Janeczek and her husband Anthony.

A funeral service celebrating Frank’s life will be Wednesday, April 10, 2024 at 5 p.m. at the D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel, 30 Carter St. Frank’s family will receive relatives and friends on Wednesday, April 10, from 3 until 5 p.m. at the funeral home. Private burial will be held at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, Frank’s family request donations please be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758516, Topeka, Kansas 66675-8516, an organization Frank supported. For on-line expressions of sympathy to the family, visit www.desopoeh.com.