SAMSON ARTHUR (ART) COX
Art Cox passed away on Jan. 17, 2013, at the University of Arizona Medical Center hospital in Tucson. Art and his wife, Elizabeth (Betty) E. (Dowling Whiting) Cox, moved to Green Valley, AZ, 16 years ago from Downers Grove, IL.
Art was born in Johnstown, PA, on Aug. 9, 1925, together with his identical twin brother John Thomas (Tom) Cox. Their parents were Thomas S. Cox and Mabel B. (Frisch) Cox. After graduating from Johnstown High School in 1943, Art and Tom were inducted into the U. S. Army and fought in World War II. Art served in the First Infantry Division (the Big Red 1) and was awarded the Purple Heart with two oak leaf clusters. He returned home and was honorably discharged in the spring of 1946.
Art benefited from the G.I. Bill by attending the College of William and Mary in Virginia. After graduating from William and Mary in 1950, he went to graduate school at Duke University, where he earned a Ph.D. degree in physics in 1955. At William and Mary, Art was inducted into membership in the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, Alpha Chapter of Virginia, in 1949. At Duke University, he was elected to membership in the Society of Sigma Xi, a scientific honor society, in 1954.
After completing college and graduate school, Art worked at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, where he had a successful career as a nuclear physicist for almost 35 years. He published numerous scientific research papers, and he was awarded four patents for inventing scientific instruments in 1978,1979, 1981, and 1985.
Besides being a successful nuclear physicist, Art was also an accomplished amateur trumpet player. He grew up in a musical family, where his father, mother, brother, and both sisters all played musical instruments.. He played in school bands and orchestras, and in community music groups, in Johnstown and at William and Mary. After moving to Illinois he became the principal trumpet player in the West Suburban Symphony, a community orchestra in Hinsdale, IL. He was an active member of the Downers Grove Music Club and occasionally played trumpet with other music groups and at church services.
Art's other hobby was amateur astronomy. When he was young, in Johnstown, he built his own telescope the old-fashioned way, grinding and polishing the mirror. Later, in Illinois, he bought several more modern telescopes, which he brought with him to Arizona, where he enjoyed the much darker, clearer nights for viewing the moon, stars, and planets. In Green Valley he was a member of the Sonoran Astronomical Society.
Art and Betty loved traveling together and attending concerts, plays, and other performances. Favorite travel destinations included cruises and the annual theater festival in Stratford, Ontario. Three of the trips they took were to view a total eclipse of the sun.
Art was preceded in death by his twin brother Tom Cox and his sister Doris (Cox) Paisley. He is survived by his sister Wanda (Cox) Willaman, his wife Betty, his son Thomas (Tom) M. Cox, his stepson Robert L. Whiting, and his daughters Phyllis A. F. Cox and Christine N. (Cox) Gronlund.
Art's funeral will take place at Green Valley Mortuary and Cemetery, 18751 S. La Caada Drive in Sahuarita, on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 1 p.m., with visitation beginning at 11 a.m. and burial immediately following the service.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
2 Entries
February 5, 2013
Laura Arthur
To light your way ;) -- love, your niece, Laurie 'Cox" Arthur
February 5, 2013
Laurie Cox-Arthur
We will miss you uncle art :( Our love and prayers goes out to the family...
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