Adele Norman Fox

News Death Notice

FOX, Adele Norman nee Daab, Oct. 24, 1925 - Jun. 26, 2010. Born in Columbia, Illinois to John Daab of Columbia and Adele Schein Daab of Waterloo. John Daab owned and operated Daab's Drug Store in Columbia, where he had apprenticed. He raised show chickens in his spare time. Adele Schein Daab was a schoolteacher and principal in Columbia. Adele grew up in Columbia and moved to East St. Louis after high school. She worked for the railroad, typing waybills and running them out to the trains. Adele's professional career included broadcasting, marketing, and administration. She worked in St. Louis as a producer, writer, and on-air personality for KMOX. She later moved to New York to continue her marketing work, traveling the country to give presentations on homemaking and entertaining. In the mid-50's, she moved to Koko- mo, Indiana to take a position as a radio host. While there, she acted in the local theater guild, where she met and married Ken Elbaum. Adele and Ken had two children, Jonathan and Daniel. They soon moved to Dayton, Ohio, where Ken worked as a materials engineer at Wright- Patterson Air Force Base. There, they had their third child, daughter Martha. The couple divorced in 1966, and Adele took over ownership and operations of the Gem City Employment Agency. Following that, she transitioned to marketing. She developed successful advertising campaigns for Stop & Go Stores and produced and presented radio and TV ads. She became the Director of Public Relations for the community of Newfields, Ohio, an experimental planned community intended to combat urban sprawl in the Dayton area. In the 70s and 80s, she directed a public housing office funded by a CETA grant to promote fair housing practices in Trotwood, Ohio. She went on to become Assistant Director of the Ohio Masonic Home, a retirement community in Springfield. It was there that she met Dale Fox, a member of the Home's board of directors. They married and she moved to Cincinnati. After Dale's death in 1995, Adele remained in Cincinnati, attending classes at Xavier University and volunteered as a docent at the Contemporary Arts Center. As a docent, Adele captivated people with her love of contemporary art. In particular she enjoyed touring children and adults who thought contemporary art was a challenge, helping them to see things a new way. Adele moved to Portland, Maine in 2005. At the time of her death, she was living at Piper Shores, a retirement community in Scarborough near Portland. Adele was a lifelong reader and aficionado of the arts. She especially loved modern painting, jazz and classical music. Adele was known for her vibrant and engaging personality, her contralto voice, and her progressive values. She will be appreciated and missed by those whose lives she touched through her compassion, humor, intellect, and song. She is survived by: Jonathan and Julia Elbaum of Ottumwa, Iowa and Burnsville, Minnesota; Daniel Elbaum of Portland, Oregon; Martha Elbaum Williamson and Bill Williamson of Falmouth, Maine; three grand- daughters, Emma and Lily Elbaum and Charlotte Adele Williamson; one niece, Debbie Barber; and three nephews, David, Dirk, and Dean Goldgar. She was pre-deceased by her sister, Vida Goldgar. Donations may be made in memorial to the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, or Doctors Without Borders.