Ray LaDon Cox's Obituary
Ray LaDon Cox, Sr. was born at home in Dawson, Texas, on May 8, 1933 to Joe and Stella Mae Cox. To everyone’s surprise, a full thirty minutes later, he was joined by a twin brother, Kay LaVon (Bucky) Cox. Three older siblings also celebrated their arrival: Dean, Polly, and John. The family moved back and forth from Dawson to Lubbock a few times, and welcomed the youngest sibling, Billy, before moving to Galena Park in the early 1940s. Galena Park would become their longtime home. LaDon graduated from Galena Park High School in 1951, married his sweetheart Bobbie Rhea Roberts in 1954 (even after his future mother-in-law told Bobbie “I think you might have set your cap a little too high this time!”), and graduated from Rice University in 1956. LaDon and Bobbie moved with their young children, Donna and Ray, to Fort Worth for LaDon to follow a calling to the ministry and attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He did not complete seminary, and always had mixed feelings about that experience, but there is no doubt that he followed his calling to lifelong ministry. He filled many interim pastorate positions, with more than one term at Old River Baptist and White Oak Baptist. He was the long-term Bible teacher in the Young Marrieds Sunday School Class at First Baptist Church of Galena Park. The standing joke was that of all who entered LaDon’s Bible Class, some never left. In his later years teaching the Young Marrieds Class, there were many attendees who were neither young nor married. He lived his life ministering to others, not only in these traditional church settings, but also, in every one of his many work roles over the years.
In a recent family meeting, we talked about LaDon/Dad/LD/Granddaddy/Pa as a people person, and it was noted that this quality was a thread connecting his many and varied career changes. For the most part, jobs came looking for LaDon, rather than the other way. That started with his first job offer. He was twelve years old when Joe Leago asked him if he wanted a job in produce at Jack’s Supermarket. During seminary years, he was asked to manage a new Putt Putt Golf franchise. On the move back to Galena Park, he was hired as P.E. Coach at North Shore Elementary, and a few years later became Assistant Principal. Soon, Tomball I.S.D. was knocking on his door with a request for him to be Principal of Tomball Elementary. After one year there, the Rice Food Markets chain sought him out for the position of Director of Personnel. He was then asked to train to become one of a few in-house polygraph examiners in the Security Department. He loved to say that God designed us to tell the truth, and that the body would have a physical reaction to telling a lie. In so many situations, his heart’s desire was to help people tell the truth, even if it was very difficult. He eventually took over the head position in Security, after his brother Dean retired from the job. After several grueling years there, being on call 24/7, he returned to the world of education. He served as a member of the Galena Park ISD Board of Trustees from 1986 to 1990. He dearly loved his years as Principal of Sheldon Elementary. He retired from there and then spent another 17 years working part-time for the Region IV Education Service Center as a field supervisor, evaluating (but mainly encouraging) candidates for the Alternative Certification program.
On the family front, LaDon was very proud of his children and their spouses. He and Bobbie dearly loved their 5 grandchildren and took them on many summer road trips. Each adult grandchild can still tell you story after story from those wonderful times with Grandmother and Granddaddy/Pa. Adding more joy to LaDon’s life were his 5 great grandchildren. Family time was of great importance to LaDon and produced great delight in his life. He and Mom served weekly delicious home cooked Sunday lunch after church to the whole bunch for many, many years.
LaDon and his twin brother and younger brother attended Rice University on athletic scholarships. LaDon enjoyed participating in many sports in his younger years but seemed to love baseball the most. He enjoyed watching his son and grandchildren play any sport. In later years, he lost some of his interest in professional sports but continued to like the Astros and recently watched the 2022 World Series with family members. His favorite things to watch on TV lately were John Wayne movies, Mountain Men, and Gaither Homecoming specials. He also made sure we didn’t forget his sweetheart’s favorite show – Wheel of Fortune.
LaDon is preceded in death by his father, Joe E. Cox, his mother, Stella Mae Odom Cox, his father-in-law, Matt E. Roberts, his mother-in-law, Eva A. Reynolds Roberts, his brothers Dean Cox, John Cox, and LaVon Cox, his sister, Pauline Cox Tomlin, and his son, Ray LaDon Cox, Jr., brothers-in-law Tommy Moon and Gene Tomlin, sisters-in-law Ione Cox and Meryl Cox.
He is survived by his loving wife of over 68 years, Bobbie Rhea Roberts Cox, his daughter Donna Cox Havard, son-in-law Rick Havard, daughter-in-law Barbara Taylor Cox, grandchildren Chris McCorvey and wife Jenna, Jesse Havard, Holly Havard Austin and husband Steve, Tyler Cox, and Colton Cox, and great-grandchildren Ruth Havard, Bryden Havard, Jesse Havard, Jr., Nolan Austin, and Davis Austin, brother Billy Cox, sisters-in-law Brenda Cox, Nancy Cox, Sandra Moon, and Beth Roberts, brother-in-law Wayne Roberts.
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