7/10/1925 – 7/19/2016
Bettie L. Cox was born to Lila and Tom Rowe July 10, 1925 in Salt Lake City, UT. She passed peacefully nine days after her 91st birthday.
She was raised in American Falls, ID, the sixth in a family with nine kids. Growing up in the Great Depression was hard, but with her older brothers and sisters there was always lots of fun and with three younger brothers she started being a mom pretty early.
In 1950 mom met Farren L. (Buzz) Cox and on Dec. 19, 1950, they were married in Elko, NV. She brought Nancy from a previous marriage, a bonus for Dad, whom he helped raise as his own. Chuck and Mike followed in 1951 and 1953, completing the family.
They made their home in the “Yellow House” on Big Canyon and went to work growing wheat on the dry farm. This was a hard transition for a town girl, but she quickly adjusted to being a farm wife and soon had her coop of banty chickens, her beloved Jersey milk cow, bum lambs, piglets, cats, stray dogs and of course the kids to take care of. She raised a huge garden and canned bushels of fruit every summer. All of this while pulling rye and feeding harvest crews. The plain fact is that she was the hardest worker on the place.
In the ‘60’s Dad began working for Lamb & Weston in the winter and the family moved to American Falls during the school year and back to the ranch in the summer, which meant that mom packed up twice a year and moved. Mom loved to read and read us to sleep every night when we were young. One of the first stops we made when we moved to American Falls was to the town library to get us all library cards from Mrs. Davis; one of the many gifts mom gave us. Mom loved the house in town which was always open and often the place where the Rowe bunch got together. After a potluck feed the guys took over the dining room table for poker and the basement for pool and the gals caught up on what everyone was up to. Being in American Falls also let Mom spend time with and help Grandma Rowe, in many ways her best friend.
When the kids got out of school, they sold the house in town and set up the “new place” on Big Canyon. It was a lot of work, but they turned it into a real show place, with hundreds of trees and a beautiful yard.
In the ‘80s they put the farm into CRP and retired from active farming. Dad decided to help mom garden. This resulted in disaster, so to get him out of her hair she got Mike to introduce Dad to golf. Little did she know that if dad was going to golf, then mom was going to golf! She took right to it and though she couldn’t hit the ball very far, no one ever told her that putting was hard and she figured if she was on the green she was supposed to make it and often did. She was a great putter.
They later sold the farm. They kept the place on Big Canyon where they continued to live. For several years they spent their winters in Lake Havasu, AZ, to get out of the cold and play golf. One year they fulfilled a lifelong dream by driving their motor home to Alaska and back via the Can Am highway.
Dad’s declining health forced a move to the Veteran’s Home in Pocatello and mom sold the place and moved to Chubbuck. She bought a little house and lived independently for several years, happily taking care of her yard and spending much of her time with dad until he passed. When the place got too big she moved to an apartment and later lived with Nancy before her declining health forced her to move into assisted living. The family is very thankful for the staff’s kind care.
Mom is survived by her sister, Jean Leydet, of Twin Falls; brother, Jerry (Colene) Rowe, of Pocatello; children, Nancy Anderson of Pocatello, Chuck (Sherrie) of Boise and Mike of Cody, WY; grandchildren, Shawn, Matthew, Sara, Amanda and Cody; 10 great-grandchildren, and many beloved nieces and nephews.
“Mom, you were the greatest Mother ever. We’ll love and miss you forever.” Nancy, Chuck and Mike
Cremation has taken place; a celebration of life will be held at a future date.
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