Dinny Cosyns

How long have you worshiped at Saint Philip’s?
Since my husband, Peter, and I arrived from Glencoe,  Illinois in 2018.

Were you raised in a faith tradition?
I was raised as a Methodist. I would have married in the Methodist church but it burned down 10 days before my wedding. The cause was arson—unrelated to my pending nuptials.

What did you and Peter do?!
It’s a cool story. The church was in a suburb of Milwaukee and TV coverage was enormous. The news showed the church in flames and parishioners outside sobbing. My mother told people that her daughter was supposed to get married in the church in just 10 days.

All the churches rallied and offered their spaces. It was an amazing experience to feel such tangible support from strangers. All the invitations had gone out so we selected the parish based on availability. We ended up getting married in a Congregational church.

Oh—and the arsonist was never found.

How’d you find your way to the Episcopal Church?
Peter and I had been very active in the Congregational Church in Winnetka and knew Bonnie Winn. When we moved to Tucson we followed her here.

How’s the transition been?
I share Peter’s love of music—although I’m less knowledgeable than he is. I play the flute, though, so I have some understanding of music.

To be honest, half the time I’m not sure what’s going on but I do know that I like it. I think the word is “mystery”—in the best sense. And the Book of Common Prayer is a wonderful anchor.

What role has faith played in your life?
It’s been an evolution. I like to read a lot and have found that books by John Shelby Spong, Dominic Crossan, and other interesting authors help me center myself.

I don’t know what people who face trouble do without a faith to draw on. And forget about dealing with death. I don’t know what I would do without my faith.

What about Saint Philip’s appeals to you?
The people. I’m astounded by the amount of energy that parishioners invest in the church—and by how smart and talented they are. Reminds me of our Winnetka church. It’s a really wonderful community.

What makes you feel like you belong to this community?
How readily we were accepted—and being involved.

How are you involved in the parish?
I serve on the Music Commission. I helped create the marketing plan for the program year. It’s worked well and continues to be used.

What did you do professionally before retiring?
I retired only a year ago. Peter and I had a marketing and advertising business that we brought with us when we moved to Tucson.

I got very involved with the Chamber of Commerce, and was on the Board and Executive Committee. It was really helpful not just for the business but to acclimate to Tucson. But then Peter’s step-mother required more care, followed by the loss of my best friend whose estate I manage, so any time for business got wiped out.

How did you get started in advertising?
I took advertising courses in college and was hired to do market research at my first ad agency. I moved quickly to account management. But this was in 1970 so I wasn’t an account executive. I was the “female” account executive.

Can you think of a decision you made that impacted the rest of your life?
Not marrying the first man who asked me. I was 22 and not ready to get married and start having babies. I was almost 30 when Peter and I got married.

How did your parents react to that?
My father wrote Christmas cards every year and would mention that I still wasn’t married. But they did their best.

Thank goodness for The Mary Tyler Moore TV show. They could watch her be a single, working woman and begin to understand what I was doing. It really helped.

What was the working culture like?
Some doors were beginning to open but others remained very closed. I would go to lunch with clients at a club or restaurant in Chicago and be told that I couldn’t be seated. I was lucky to get involved when I did. If I’d been even just two years older I don’t think I would have had the opportunities I did. I might still be tabulating results in market research. 

Golf opened a lot of doors for me. And this was the era of Gloria Steinem. It was a good time to be a young woman in business.

What do you think helped you excel in that culture?
I grew up with boys, and everything was a competition. We played baseball, football, ping-pong, and lots of card games — including poker.

Being competitive isn’t a bad thing. It’s probably one of my top three characteristics.

What are the other two?
I’m goal oriented and probably loyal to a fault. I’ve held on to people who I should have let go, but I think the alterative isn’t as good as being overly loyal.

What’s something you’re proud of?
I’m proud that I climbed Aspen Mountain. It’s 10,700 feet high and I was able to keep up with my brother to make it to the top. This was about six or eight years ago. I like being able to say I climbed a mountain!

This is more luck than anything but I’m also proud that I got my third hole-in-one earlier last month. It was a 120 yard Par 3.

I’m also proud that when I left J. Walter Thompson after 22 years, as a Senior Partner/Group Management Director, I started my own business. Our marketing agency, NorthStar Strategies, beat all the odds and survived 20 years.

What’s something you’re passionate about?
Golf! You never figure it out. You think you do and then learn you haven’t.

What’s something you find challenging?
I have ADD. I need to make lists to help me focus. But they allow me to multi-task which has been a real asset over the years.

What’s one of your core values?
Honesty and loyalty. I stay connected to former clients even though 20 years have passed. I like to send notes on special occasions to keep in touch.

What’s something you learned from your parents?
I was very blessed to have the parents I did. I thank God every night that I was brought up by them.

They demonstrated a work ethic that I still carry with me. My mother worked as far back as I can remember. She was a Phys Ed teacher—despite being picked last for every team.

My father had a great job but they had four children so my mother needed to work, too. She helped pay for our college educations.

What’s one of your guiding principles?
That life is good. And if circumstances aren’t that great, I trust they’ll get better. I view life through rose-colored glasses. It’s probably a chemical thing but I usually wake up in the morning with a 70s rock song playing in my head ready to live the day.

What’s something you’re grateful for?
Our two boys.

What’s one of your super powers?
Humor—which diffuses a lot of situations. I’m also very disciplined. I’ve done “Dry January” for 20 years now.

What’s something you haven’t done yet that you’d like to try?
I’d love to go sky diving.

Do you have a guilty pleasure?
I used to. During high school I was part of the Women’s World-Wide Secret Stogie Society. A few friends and I would get together and smoke cigars.

What might people be surprised to learn about you?
That I have a cheese bra.

That definitely needs to be explained!
I’m a Green Bay Packers football fan. Most fans have cheese heads but I have a cheese bra. It’s made out of the same rubbery fabric and looks like a tube top from the 1970’s. It sounds crazy but it won first prize at a Halloween party.

What have I not asked that you would like people to know?
I really believe that a lot of life is luck. And I’ve been very, very fortunate.

I’m grateful to be in good health at my age. Not everyone is that lucky. If I was told I couldn’t play golf anymore because of my health, I’d ask to be given hemlock in the next drink I’m served.

What’s a fun fact about you?
I once worked with the comedian Robin Williams.

One of my business accounts was a phone company, and I oversaw the production of a commercial to sell a designer phone. We needed somebody who could do different voices and be engaging. He was incredibly entertaining.

When we wanted to renew the commercial and invite Robin back, I was told not to bother even trying to reach him. At that point he was on a sitcom called Mork and Mindy.