William "Bill" Homer Cox, Jr

William Homer Cox, Jr. passed away August 21, 2022 in Granbury, Texas.

Services are to be held Saturday, August 27, 2022 at 11:00 am at Grace Gardens
Funeral Home in Woodway, Texas with visitation Friday evening from 5-7 p.m.

Dr. William Homer Cox, Jr. who preferred to go simply by “Bill” was born in
Commerce, Texas on July 1, 1928 the oldest child of William and Zelma Cox. He
graduated in 1948 from East Texas State Teacher’s College (now East Texas State
University) and began a career in education as a teacher at the Texas School for
the Blind in Austin. He also served in the Texas National Guard.
That teaching career was interrupted by service in the Korean War during which
Bill received two bronze stars. He returned to Hubbard, Texas where he later
owned a lumber yard, Cox Lumber Company, built an 18’ sailboat, served in the
volunteer fire department and sang in the Methodist church choir which he dearly
loved. Later in life he was a long-time member of the Baylor Senior Choir.
He resumed his teaching career path in 1968 joining the staff of Texas State
Technical Institute in Waco, Texas. In 1983, Bill earned a Doctorate in Vocational
Education from Texas A&M University, and in 1990 Dr. Cox became the Dean of
Instruction on the Waco campus of Texas State Technical College, the position he
held until he retired.
His military service in Korea marked Bill’s life profoundly. As he grew older, he felt
that the Korean War had become a forgotten war in the national history. He took
his own steps to keep its memory alive by displaying the simple sentence “I
Remember Korea” on the vehicle he drove, a gesture which reflected his quietly
determined nature.
From the time of World War II, when young men were encouraged to take up
ham radio as an alternate means of communication should the United States be
invaded, Bill became an avid ham radio enthusiast. He became a member of
MARS, Military Auxiliary Radio System, and helped connect soldiers in Vietnam
with their loved ones. He was an active member of the Heart O’ Texas Amateur
Radio Club.
Bill kept meticulous files of the family genealogy he delighted in researching. He
was especially proud of being a descendant of John Cox, an early leader in the
Methodist Church, and the ambitious pioneer Thomas Amis whose exploits on the
Mississippi River helped influence Thomas Jefferson to enact the Louisiana
Purchase.

Bill had grown up hunting and fishing and roaming the woods near his home as a
boy and he never stopped being an outdoorsman at heart. Nor did he ever lose
his love of working with his hands. To make his own repairs to his home, to build
custom furniture to fit as needed, to improve the land he could step out and walk
on beyond his back door - all were sources of tremendous satisfaction to Bill.
Dr. William Homer Cox, Jr. died on August 21st. He will be deeply missed.
Bill Cox was preceded in death by his wife, Margarite Ann Cox, and also sister,
Ellen Kate “Tweet” Nelson. He is survived by his brother, George Cox (Beverly),
two daughters Elizabeth Wayland and Kathleen Gilmore (Greg), two sons Bobby
Cox (Sandra) and Richard Cox (Cheryl), 8 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren,
three step daughters Pamela Sharp (Bill), Margarite Anderson and Sharon
Jandrain and their 5 children and 1 grandchild.

If you wish to make a donation in Bill’s name please do so to the Heart O’ Texas
Amateur Radio Club (Hotarc.org).

Registry for William "Bill" Cox, Jr.