W. Austin Cox

Wendell Austin Cox, 92, passed away on January 9, 2025, at Friends Fellowship Community in Richmond, Indiana.

He was born on December 29, 1932, and is the son of Wendell and Mabel Cox.

Austin grew up near Winchester, Indiana and graduated from McKinley High School in 1951.  After 44 months in the Air Force, he attended Ball State University and Bowling Green State University. Austin taught math and physics at Centerville High School, Crawfordsville High School, North Central High School, and Burris High School. He retired from Burris High School in 1991.

Austin was a loving and generous father, grandfather, and husband who found farm and yard work gratifying.  He especially enjoyed genealogy and traced his family roots back to the time of arrival in America. He loved sharing stories from family history and took pleasure in doing the research to help friends and neighbors discover more about their own family history.  

Austin’s life centered on family, church, and volunteer community involvement. He was a dedicated member of the Winchester Friends Church and served as a representative to Quaker gatherings and on the boards of the Friends Fellowship Community, Earlham College, the James Moorman Orphans Home Scholarship fund, the Fountain Park Cemetery, the White River Cemetery, and the Randolph County Historical Society.

Austin is survived by his devoted wife whom he married on March 13, 1970, Letha (Knoll) Cox, his children, David (Jane Snyder) Cox, Amy (Terry) Retz, Aaron (JoAnn Hiponia) Cox, Karen (Lonnie) Walker, Grayson (Sherry Cummings) Cox, Jennifer (Jay) Baldwin, and his step-daughters Rhonda (Darl) Resler and Deborah (John) Garrett.  He is survived by twenty-seven grandchildren, forty-three great-grandchildren and 6 great-great-grandchildren.

Austin was preceded in death by his parents, Wendell Victor Cox and Mabel E. (Austin) Cox, his first wife, Rosalyn Dwiggins, his sister Rowena Hawley, his daughter, Pamela (David) Eley, his step-daughter, Laura (Gary) Fields, and his grandsons Benjamin and Samuel Eley.

A memorial service will be held at Winchester Friends Church on February 1 beginning at 10:30am.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to Winchester Friends Church.

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