Art Fox remembered

Arthur Boyd Fox was born February 23, 1932 in Bethany, Illinois and passed away June 9, 2023 in Billings, MT with his loving wife Ruby, of 55 years by his side. He is survived by Ruby and their children, Robin (Steve) Hanson of Mesa, AZ, Gary (Judy) Fox of Columbus, GA and Tom (Jenny) Fox of Worden, MT. He leaves behind his grandchildren he adored; Matt, Sarah, Breann, Jake, Ryan, Jason, and Shanna, great-grandchildren; Dakota, Dalton, Dawsyn, Harleigh, Lane, Savana, and Zane, great-great grandchildren; Krysta and Vivian, and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Earl and Eugenia Fox, sister, Kathryn Lively, brother-in-law Judd Lively and his first wife, Carolyn Duncan Fox.

In 2008 he wrote this note for his 50th high school reunion. He summed up his own life in true Art fashion.

“I graduated from college (Eastern Ill. Univ.), was a school teacher, sold printing, spent 36 years as a school administrator and one year as the pistol coach for the Thailand Olympic Team. I have baled hay, picked cotton, fought forest fires, and rang bells for the Salvation Army. I have played banjo in a Dixieland band, a mandolin in a bluegrass group and sang in the church choir. I have worked most of my adult life in an honorable profession, made new and different friends.

“I have been around the block, seen the cards fall and watched the smoke rise. I have lived in Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Hawaii, and Thailand. I have traveled on land, sea, and air, ridden a tricycle, bicycle, automobile, an elephant, burro, and a ferris wheel. Watched the sun come up over the Alps in Switzerland and go down in the Andaman Sea off the west coast of Burma and sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge at midnight.

“I have watched with pride with tears in my eyes as my wife marched with three different U.S. Olympic Teams. Seen her stand proudly on the center stand while our National Anthem was played and the American flag raised in her honor. I have watched my daughter grow and develop into the type of person my folks hoped that I would have been. I saw my oldest son proudly present the flag of our nation to the widow of a serviceman; watched my youngest son help kick a hole in the Berlin Wall, crawl through and shake hands with the East German Border guard. I watched with pride as my granddaughter was presented an award for being the outstanding student in the first grade. I sat beside an outdoor fire with another, and we spit on the fire, roasted marshmallows and ‘talked of ships and sails and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.’ I have listened to my grandson talk about a summer in Australia and his life as an Army brat. I buried a wife, both my parents and any number of good friends.

“I have been blessed with good health, many wonderful friends, loads of happy memories, very few sad, a great family and a loving wife. I strongly believe in the words Todo es posiblie, para-Dias, “all things are possible through Christ” and in the words of the poet, Robert Browning, ‘Come, grow old with me, the best is yet to come.'”

Art’s family and friends will miss his sarcasm, wit, and love. You knew how long you had known him by what name you called him. Oz and Ozzie were his life before Parker, and he was always some version of Mr. Fox, Mr. Office, or Art after 1959. Regardless of how you knew him – teaching, school administration, pistol shooting, bluegrass music, or what you called him – he was not a man easily forgotten.

There will be a celebration of his life in Parker, Arizona on September 30, 2023. Details to follow.

A scholarship fund will be set up in Art’s name to continue his legacy and dedication to education. Memorials may be made to the charity of your choice.