John Cox
These memories of ours in lyric verse
Are testament to you, a loving nurse.
Poems written by John Cox for his wife Rosemary drawing on memories of their lives together over fifty years.
Published by Salisbury Printing, May 2026
Click on the image to purchase a copy.
Rosemary has had dementia for several years, inexorably losing speech, mobility and independent living. Despite severe impairment she has retained some capacities: she recognises people, she shows by smiling and facial expression that she can understand much, and blessedly she has still retained the power to laugh.
After graduating from Manchester University Rosemary trained at St Thomas’s Hospital in London. When she and John met she was nursing in coronary care at St Bartholomew’s, but after moving to Salisbury and having children it was a while before she returned to the wards, this time at the Spinal Treatment Centre at Salisbury District Hospital. She later transferred to Salisbury Hospice, in her last role as Sister, going out to other wards to liaise with medical staff about palliative care.
Heartened by Rosemary’s responses to the poems, John shared them with family and close friends and would now like them to reach a wider readership and benefit the Stars Appeal.
Proceeds from the sales of Memories for Rosemary will go to the Stars Appeal, the charity of Salisbury District Hospital.
Every day the Stars Appeal helps hundreds of patients at Salisbury District Hospital and support the NHS staff who care for them.
