Elizabeth T. Cox

    Elizabeth Theresa Cox died July 30, 2015 after a brief illness. She was 102.

    The widow of the late Lt. Col. (retired U. S. Air Force) Curville W. Cox, she lived in Mechanicsville, VA,
    although she recently was residing in an assisted living facility in Newburyport, MA. Previously, they had lived
    for over 40 years in Hopedale, MA.

    She was known as Betty. She was born Oct. 1, 1912 and grew up in an Irish family in Brookline, MA. She
    was the youngest child of John and Nora (Riley) Magee and had five siblings, who predeceased her. She
    was a graduate of St. Mary's High School, Brookline.

    Betty met her husband in Framingham, MA in 1946, and they married in March 1947. When they wed he was
    stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky. At his next station, at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, VA, she hosted a
    radio program called 'Air Force Wives.' They moved to Hopedale, MA in the 1950s, with their two young sons,
    and created strong ties to the community. Curville retired from the military in the late 1950s.  Betty
    volunteered as a Cub Scout den mother, was active in Democratic politics, and was a member of First
    Congregational Church in Milford. She conceived of the idea for Hopedale's annual Day in the Park Fine Arts
    Festival, sang in community musical productions, and was active in ecumenical church efforts.

    She held various part-time jobs at different times, including stints at a hat factory in Upton and selling
    women's coats and accessories at Jordan Marsh in Framingham. She wrote a column for the Milford Daily
    News called 'A Walk Down Main Street' and hosted a program on WMRC radio station in Milford called 'The
    Betty Cox Show.'

    She later worked as a correspondent for The Worcester Telegram and Evening Gazette (later the Telegram
    & Gazette), covering Hopedale news and politics and sometimes tangling with the town's Board of
    Selectmen. When Rockwell International announced it was closing Hopedale’s former Draper Corp. plant, at
    one time the largest manufacturer of automated looms in the world, her report was the newspaper’s lead
    story on page one the following day. After retiring from the Telegram & Gazette she worked briefly as a
    correspondent for The Middlesex News.

    Betty enjoyed politics, music, food, family, the beach, and traveling. She was an amateur artist, and at age
    100 she drew a still life in pastels and had it reproduced for her Christmas cards. She had an intense
    interest in current events and government affairs, including foreign affairs. Most of all, she enjoyed being with
    people and talking with them about any number of subjects.

    She and her husband relocated from Hopedale to Mechanicsville, VA, in the late 1990s in order to live near
    their youngest son, Tim, and his wife, Linda, and their three grand-children, Nathan, Marybeth, and David.

    She is survived by her sons, John and his wife, Gay, of Amesbury, MA., and Tim and his wife, Linda, of
    Mechanicsville, VA; four grandchildren, Gideon Cox of Radnor, PA, Nathan Cox of Mechanicsville, VA, and his
    fiance, Ivelis Varela of Rockledge, FL, Marybeth Pendleton and her husband, Terence, of Henrico, VA, and
    David Cox and his wife, Heather, of Fredericksburg, VA; and a number of nieces and nephews.

    A memorial event will be held at a date to be announced.

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