Cox, Bette R. (Towner) 1923-2003

COX, LEACH, TOWNER, GRAF, CORRELL

Posted By: volunteer (email)
Date: 10/22/2005 at 21:54:20

Bette R. Cox, 80, of 500 1st St. N. died of a heart attack Monday, June 9, at her home.

Funeral services will be held at the First Presbyterian Church in Newton with Father Robert A. Towner of Cape Girardeau, Mo., and the Rev. Stephen Mathison-Bowie of Newton officiating. Burial will be at Newton Union Cemetery in Newton. Wallace Family Funeral Home in Newton is handling arrangements.

Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. today at the church where the family will be present from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Memorials will be accepted to Care and Compassion International, Newton Arboretum or Willowbrook Adult Day Care.

The daughter of Arthur L. and Ruth V. Leach Towner, she was born June 1, 1923, in Chicago, Ill. She graduated from Iowa City High School and Grouchier College in Baltimore, Md. On May 27, 1950, she married Gerald B. "Jerry" Cox in Iowa City.

Mrs. Cox was a bacteriologist and homemaker. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Friends of the Library Board, Tri-City Garden Club and Marshalltown Garden Club. She was active in the Republican Party and also was past president of the State of Iowa Garden Club and was a member of other civic clubs. She lived in Marshalltown from 1977 to 1997, in Bettendorf from 1952 to 1977 and then became a resident of Newton.

Survivors include a son, Arthur Towner Cox of Cedar Falls; two daughters, Susan Stafford Graf of Butler, Penn., and Ann Vincent Correll of Collierville, Tenn.; 12 grandchildren; and a twin brother, Robert V. Towner of Iowa City.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband.

The Newton (IA) Daily News, Thursday, June 12, 2003