Duane Cox

The family moved to a small farm on Weiser Flat in 1935. Duane graduated from Weiser High School in 1938. He joined the U.S. Army, 5th Air Force, in December 1941 and served as an aircraft mechanic with the 39th Fighter Squadron in the South Pacific, achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant before his discharge at the end of World War II. Once out of the military, he farmed in Vale, Oregon until marrying Wilma May Cuddy on July 16, 1951.

The newlyweds moved to Richland, Washington where he worked at Hanford. During this time, son Duane Keith was born in 1952 and daughter Anna Michaelene came along in 1954. In 1957 the family moved to Seattle, Washington where Duane was employed with Boeing and his third child, Naomi Shaun, was born in 1958. The five of them moved to the family farm on Weiser Flat in 1959 where Duane joined the Idaho Transportation Department.

His youngest, Paul Kevin, was born there in 1960. Duane and Wilma divorced in 1963 and he never remarried. Duane stayed with the highway department until his retirement in 1986. During his tenure, he worked on many road improvements familiar to Idahoans: Midvale Hill, Mesa Hill, Whitebird Hill, the Lowman to Banner Summit stretch on Highway 21 and the Caldwell freeway interchange.

Duane happily took to retirement, traveling around the U.S. with his brother, Donald, and attending many of the 39th Fighter Squadron reunions, plus finding projects around the place that kept him busy. He took up golfing and kept it up five days a week until the last couple of years of his life. Duane sold the farm in 2004 and moved to Boise to be closer to family where he lived until the time of his death. Quiet and unassuming, Duane was a man of substance, doing right by those he loved. He had a wry sense of humor and enjoyed getting a rise out of people. He was famous for his daily breakfasts: eggs, bacon and waffles or pancakes.

He visited family often, usually arriving at the door with buckets of bounty from his small orchard, vineyard and garden. He shared his enthusiasm for some things, giving people waffle irons, George Foreman grills and subscriptions to U.S. News and World Report. He always kept a nice yard, although his battle with quackgrass in Boise took him to the brink. He never met a weed killer he didn’t like. He loved the water, was a good swimmer, had a motorboat for a while and kept a sailboat for years. Duane could and did fix almost anything mechanical. He had an enviable woodshop and became famous, or maybe it was infamous, for his bowling pin lamps. Duane was a loving son, brother, uncle, grandad and a great dad.

His children are grateful for the many happy days and years he afforded them. Duane was preceded in death by his parents; brother Donald Cox; sisters Phyliss Nelson, Katherine Stringer and Dorothy Hall; daughter Shaun Leonard; son Kevin Cox; nephews Tim Nelson and Robert Stringer; brothers-in-law Dawn Nelson, Jim Renwick, Dick Stringer and Bob Hall; sister-in-law Patsy Cox.

He is survived by his sister, Margaret Renwick, Council; son Keith (Pam) Cox, Boise; daughter Anna Means, Challis; grandchildren Eric (Tiffani Davis) Jensen, Tara Jensen, Amy Cox, all of Portland, Oregon, Leisa Taylor, Reno, Nevada, Dylan and Rachel Cox, Austin, Texas; daughter-in-law Cathy Cox, Austin; son-in-law Mike Leonard, Boise; great-grandchildren Tara Barth of Minnesota and Henry Jensen of Portland; many nieces and nephews.

Services will be held Saturday, December 13, 1 p.m. at Thomason Funeral Home, 221 E Court St., Weiser, Idaho. Bring a story to share.

From Findagrave