Richard Cox 1954-1959

COX, MAALAND

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 10/6/2013 at 22:09:55

Son of Earl Cox Found in Icebox
The body of Richard Cox, five-year-old son of M-Sgt. And Mrs. Earl H. Cox of Estherville, who are stationed at Chicksands Air Force Base near Bedford, England, was found Tuesday in a portable icebox.

Robert Cox, Estherville, brother of M-Sgt. Cox received word of his nephew’s death by a telephone call from London yesterday morning. The family will arrive in Estherville within the next few days. The Sandin-Fuhrman Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, which are incomplete at this time.

Richard had been missing since Monday. His parents, 12 policemen and two tracker dogs hunted the district for him. Then Cox opened the three foot-square icebox at the family home at Bedford and found Richard wedged inside, suffocated.

The box was used for taking drinks from the big family refrigerator to Cox’s base at nearby Chicksands. It had been left on the lawn to dry out.

Police believe that Richard went out to play after school and climbed inside the box. The lid fell, locking the box from the inside. A rubber band running around the inside made the box airtight.

The Coxes have two other sons, David, 11, and Keith, 4. Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Cox is the surviving paternal grandparents and Mr. and Mrs. I.J. Maaland of Cylinder are the maternal grandparents.

The Cox family had gone to England before Christmas.

A memorial service for the child will be held at the chapel at the Chicksands base Thursday.

Cox said he will take his son’s body to the United States and that his wife and other sons will travel with him. An Air Force officer said Cox’s station is not being changed, but it is customary to give airmen leaves in cases of deep personal tragedy. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, June 24, 1959)

Rites for Cox Child Will Be Monday
Funeral services for Richard Cox, 5, son of Master Sgt. And Mrs. Earl H. Cox, Bedford, England, will be Monday at 2 p.m. at the Sandin-Fuhrman Funeral Home, the Rev. Eugene Olson officiating. Friends may call at the funeral home from tomorrow evening until time of services. Burial will be in oak Hill Cemetery, with pallbearers Jack Bixby, Burton Strubhar, Kenneth Van Eman and Dick Sidles. A memorial fund has been established.

Master Sgt. and Mrs. Cox will not be able to attend the service, due to pressing military duties. Services were held Thursday at Chicksands Air Base, England, where the family is stations. Richard died Monday, June 22, when he suffocated in a portable icebox at the Cox home. His body was found the next day after an intensive search by his parents, policemen and tracker dogs. Apparently he had crawled inside the box, the lid fell and locked the box from the inside.

The Coxes have two other sons, David, 11, and Keith, 4. Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Cox are the surviving paternal grandparents and Mr. and Mr. I.J. Maaland of Cylinder are the maternal grandparents. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, July 3, 1959)