William Jesse Cox

Leopold Stokowski once said, “A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.” If this is true, there was never a silent moment when Bill was around. His love of playing his trumpet carried him from a young boy in Memphis starting at 11 years of age and continued right up until his final days, where his family wheeled him in to play “one last time” with the newly formed Montgomery Community Band. He started taking lessons as a young boy, growing up to play in the Auburn band. Shortly after graduation, his love for playing music caused him to seek out a community band and he joined the Kingsport TN Community Symphony Orchestra. As he moved through life, and the country, he found other community groups to play with including a interoffice band organized by a co-worker at Eastman Texas, the Orange Community Band, a brass quintet in Beaumont, Austin Symphonic Band, Starlight Symphony, the Hill Country Band and even with the church band at First Baptist Church of Wimberly. As if that playing was not enough, he also was often honored to play Taps for the local VFW. It was not only about his own playing as he also taught private lessons to help foster the same love for music with the younger generations for much of his adult life.

Bill was also an avid woodworker, an accomplished handyman, and the ultimate “tinkerer”. When he and his wife Merry moved to Dripping Springs, they selected a home that had a climate-controlled woodworking shop! It was here that he made Christmas ornaments, pens, bowls, wooden toy cars, and other delightful items. He took a great deal of pride in knowing that his own two hands maintained everything on his property. His pride and joy was his 23 year old Plymouth Voyager van which he cared for lovingly and hoped to make it to 500,000 miles. (He only made it to about 350,000). Even in his final days, he felt the need to tinker and succeeded in restoring a 150-year-old music box to working order. The box had been in his family since the Civil War and was reportedly used to hide valuables from the Yankees. When he could no longer get down to his workshop, his family brought a portable workbench into his apartment so he could continue to work on it in comfort.

Life was not all about fun…. Yes it was! He always said that he could not believe he got paid to play! He retired from Chevron (formerly Gulf) as a mechanical engineer after 25 years. Prior to that, he spent 10 years with Kodak and additionally spent some time during college as Co-op Student as an engineer at Egland Air Force base. Once he retired from Chevron, he spent 13 years substitute teaching at the local schools. This allowed him to watch the children of Dripping Springs grow up and cherished seeing them out and about in Dripping and delighted when they called him out by name! He never considered any of these things “work”.

It was during his time at Auburn University where he met his wife, Merry. He was set up on a blind date with her and later ran into her on campus. The rest, as they say is history. They went on to have two daughters, Cricket and Tempest. They had several cats as pets, but they often lived in homes where the wildlife could come visit them. This included the usual birds and squirrels, but also raccoons who would bring their babies to visit, deer, fox, roadrunners, etc.

He is preceded in death by his father, Jesse Herman Cox, and his mother, Irene Cornelius (Edge) Cox Dutcher. He also lost his loving wife, Merry Charlene (Bradford) Cox and his adoring sister, Francis Irene (Cox) Jaimeson.

He is survived by his daughter Martha Karen Cricket (Cox) Degner, and her children Zane Austin Degner and wife Katylyn Marie (Stewart) Degner, and Zachary Austin Degner. Also daughter Tempest Laurel Mariah (Cox) Gray, spouse James Leroy Gray IV and children, Sheena Mackenzie Mariah Gray, Cheyenne Jazmin Laurel Gray, and Rowdy James Leroy Gray V. He also is survived by three grand-dogs, Jasper, Bailey, and Bolt. He also leaves behind nieces and nephews including his sister’s children, Jill (Jaimeson) Looney, Jeff Jaimeson, and June (Jaimeson) Post.

Services will be held on June 23rd in Dripping Springs Texas at First Baptist Church of Wimberly at 1:30pm.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to: Hill Country Community Band - a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

You can mail your donation to: Hill Country Community Band, P.O. Box 633, Wimberley, TX 78676

You can also donate via PayPal or credit card from their website, www.hillcountrycommunityband.org/supporters/