In a symbolic birthday gesture to myself, the Cox Family Archives present the historic 1987 “Family Talk” interview with Edgar William Cox, Sr. and Mary Lee Cox. The interview was conducted by Dr. Margret Halle and Lenore Steffans at Lewis Senior Center as part of their “Memories, Inc.” project. We present it here as a four-part audio series with accompanying WMC-TV5 News video, shown below.
In this incredibly priceless piece of family history, Ed and Mary Lee discuss many unique aspects of their lives both before and after becoming an inseparable couple for 49 years. In this interview they relate many stories not normally heard at family reunions and get togethers. It is a rare treat and a blessing to be able to share these transcriptions with you now.
Click and watch the YouTube video, below, and then listen to the complete audio-only interview via these links:
Play all 4 sections (listen) – 40:42
The complete interview strung together as one
Part 1 (listen) – 9:57
Ed and Mary Lee’s early years… Hazy recollections
Part 2 (listen) – 10:12
Transitions: From school to the Pacific
Part 3 (listen) – 10:20
More on the war years and beyond
Part 4 (listen) – 10:13
Looking Back: Reflections on life, circa 1987
This series also represents the symbolic opening of the Cox Family audio archives on this website. Thanks to Forrest Howell we have tapes dating back to the early ’50s! As time permits, other priceless audio heirlooms will be added to the site.
It’s really been a daunting task getting these pictures online. The stack of photos awaiting processing keeps growing faster than I can scan them in. Some collections, like Susan and my wedding pictures (click) will continue to grow as we locate misplaced photobooks.
Other finds, however, are discoveries that almost take my breath away because they are so full of forgotten memories. Such was the case when I broke into an
Mystery Girl Eludes ID
unassuming stack of photos that had been hiding in a corner of a closet in the old “den” for 40 years. My favorites from the group are now in the “Autos Etc. 1966-1969″ album (click) where you’ll see the only known surviving photos of the 1967 Super Sport, PawPaw’s old white Falcon station wagon, Rebel the wonderdog, a Roy Coats Band Rehearsal and much more. I hope others can help me identify the Mystery Girl(!) along with the various other cars seen in the photos. Enjoy the memories!
Welcome to the central location for the Memphis branch of the Ed Cox Family. This is the place for all things digitized. In addition to various galleries from family gatherings, much of this content is memorabilia obtained during the process of clearing out the old homesteads on Donna Dr (parent’s house) and Burnham Ave (maternal grandparent’s house) in Memphis, Tennessee.
Ed and Mary Lee
It’s a slow, sometimes painful process going through decades of keepsakes, but as a result there’s now a wealth of material to share with others in the family for generations to come… Well over 1,000 photographs alone! It’s going to take months to get all these materials scanned and indexed and we’ll add them here as we go along, so check back from time to time to see what’s new. We’ll tell you about additions as they occur, right here.
Calling all Cox Family Members…
This site is owned and operated by Steve Cox. If you are a member of the Cox Family, you are especially invited to please register for a free account (click)! Over time this will give you access to photos, videos and family documents that aren’t available to the general public, as well as give you the ability to add to this collection with your own photos, videos and links.
Buried deep in a pile of papers in the house on Donna Drive was a smallish photo album… The size where one Polaroid picture would fill a page quite neatly. The circle cut out on the cover showed a smiling “Captain Ed” looking through. Here was Mary Lee’s main collection of snapshots that she had taken in the 1980s, complete with hand written annotations in most of the bottom white spaces! The same album I now offer for you to browse right here (click).
At Indy 500 in 1978
The middle ’80s were an interesting time for the Cox family and this little photo album documents several slices of it . David and Eddie had gone off separate ways and started families of their own, while Steve and Susan were off being a semi-yuppie couple. Alma was adjusting to life without Forrest (and WITH her sister, Allie), and Donna Drive was a center of activity all its own as Ed and Mary Lee got used to their empty nest and did a little more adult socializing, company parties, CB jamboree attending, etc.
So, take a stroll down memory lane through one of Mary Lee’s favorite purseable photo albums by simply clicking here.
It was 1945, war was over, and the USA was celebrating non-stop from coast to coast… Unknown to some of our family is the fact that Alma and Forrest Howell did quite a bit of kicking up their heels during that period and they left us a few photos as proof.
Besides being social butterflies at Memphis’ own Peabody Skyway and the Hotel Claridge Balanese Room, at some point the Howells traveled to Chicago a few times and sampled several nightclubs in the area with names like Rio Cabana, Frolics, Morocco Theatre Cafe, Chicago’s Latin Quarter, and The Silver Slipper.
PRESERVED NIGHTCLUB MEMORIES
Hotel Claridge, Memphis
Luckily for us, Alma and Forrest had many pictures taken by the roving club photographers and we can share them with you here in the family photo gallery, complete with those great camp covers the period was famous for.
Considering the hard years of the depression and then the horrors of World War II that followed, its not difficult to imagine how America felt like the morning after a bad dream and was now in the mood to celebrate!
A happy birthday greeting goes out to David Forrest Cox who got another year older the day before Halloween. In honor of this auspicious occasion we show you a picture of another very memorable birthday that happened to Dave over 30 years ago. Click it, if you dare, to see more. Bikini cake warning (GP rating)
No one has yet sent in any pictures of Dave from this year’s festivities (hint, hint). I can only imagine what might have been on (or in) his cake this year.
More birthdays out there
We know members of our family are out there having birthdays, so why not tell me about it and even send in a picture or two so we can all celebrate with you. I’d even start an online calendar of birthdays if someone good at those things could send me a “master list” of birthdays I could use. (paging Barbara…..?)
The “Donna Drive Collection” is now up to Volume Five (click) with lots of new, old pictures of Mary Lee and even some of the forefathers (and pretty ladies) that came before.
There’s been a lot of additions to the site today! Over 100 new photographs have been added to the Photos Page (click). The Video Page (click) now has a YouTube compilation of 14 videos with various Cox Family members in them.
Visit the Video Gallery!
That should keep you busy browsing new stuff for a while! There’s more to come shortly and I’m also really looking forward to seeing photos, videos and other various contributions from other members of the family coming in soon (hint, hint). We could, for example, start a Pets Page with everyone’s lil’ darlins on it.
New, Easy One-Click Uploading!
The Contact Page (click) now has a way to UPLOAD pictures and videos. This makes it easier than ever for family members to add content to this website. As always, all contributions are sincerely appreciated.
Click here to see various slides from a collection of photos Eddie shot back in 1969. You’ll see Fish, Flowers, Neighbors and even the Memphis Zoo back when it was little more than a collection of cages.
for generations to come… Well over 1,000 photographs alone! It’s going to take months to get all these materials scanned and indexed and we’ll add them here as we go along, so check back from time to time to see what’s new. We’ll tell you about additions as they occur, right here.
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