Farewell to Frances

Frances Cox was part of the tapestry of my youth in Coeur d'Alene. As sweet as she was beautiful and with an angel's voice to boot. Hundreds, maybe thousands of youngsters in the 1960s learned to love music at her Merry Melody Musical Kindergarten. She and her well-known and long-time husband, J. Ray Cox, made beautiful music in their 63-year marriage. Frances was a gifted dancer and musician with an angelic solo voice. She was captain of the drill team at Coeur d’Alene High School, and a popular entertainer at the Farragut Navel Base. She sang in Elks Club community musical productions in the 1950s. Frances also sang with the North Idaho College Choir and the Elks Club Dance Band. (photo of the couple circa 1997)
Frances passed away on Monday and her services will be this coming Saturday in Hayden. In recent months I've re-connected with my CHS classmate Steve Cox and his sister, Kathy, on Facebook. Now living in western Washington, Steve shared a beautiful slide show featuring a song of his childhood home of Coeur d'Alene that he wrote and performs here. A fitting tribute to their mother's life song well-sung.