Dorothy D. Cox

My cousin Dorothy Ann Drake Cox

17 July 1946 San Benito 8 November 2017

Got out and came back; doing the usual, and then some…

Parents: Lawrence Alva Drake Sr. and Erma Louise (Payne) Drake of San Benito.  Grandparents: Henry B. Payne and Ada Belle (Smith) Payne came to San Benito in the mid 1920s to farm newly irrigated lands.  She is survived by brother Lawrence Alva Drake Jr. and wife Nancy Bonner Drake, cousins John Bowman Payne, Marianne Payne, and Tom Payne (all three in central Texas).

Dorothy grew up on her Payne grandparent’s farm, attended San Benito High School and Durham Business School, and followed her brother Larry into public service with The Department of Public Safety. Her 13 years of focus and finesse found DPS recognition and a recommendation to employment with Humble Oil / Exxon Mobile, in Houston.  While there she married Calvin F. Cox, a State Trooper.

Much of that second, 28 year career, was with the company’s credit card office. While connecting the dots for Exxon, as Credit Card Fraud Investigation Coordinator, in the early ‘90s, she received a Commendation from the US Army (Liaison and Survey Board) and a Certificate of Appreciation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation for service in the public interest.  She was coordinating travel logistics for Exxon executives when she retired ten years ago.

Dorothy enjoyed volunteer work at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston and then the Veteran’s Administration and Valley Proud Environmental Council in Harlingen. She was an active member of PEO in San Benito, Harlingen and the Rio Grande Valley.  She was a good friend and sister, never met a stranger, and enjoyed people wherever she went.

A dozen tigers decorate the walls and shelves of her home office along with replicas of Humble, Enco, and Exxon trucks and other icons.  An entire shelf holds Dean Koontz books, another shelf - Stephen King, a third shelf - Mary Higgins Clark, Victoria Holt. Dorothy liked sparkle, in clothing and crystal. After Calvin’s death, she spent eight years designing and perfecting her retirement home.  She then built that marvelous home on the same dirt she grew up with, next door to her loving brother.

A broken leg in June of this year exposed advanced cancer; she met those adversities resolutely, doing all the right things to the end - a few days with hospice care in San Benito.  She was especially grateful to those that came by to visit or called even though she couldn’t talk well.

Following Dorothy’s wishes, cremation has taken place with Buck Ashcraft Funeral Home in Harlingen. A memorial is being planned at Camelot in late April.  In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to Harlingen Humane Society’s “Panda House” for cats and kittens, their Paw’s for a Cause spay/neuter clinic, Harlingen’s Salvation Army, Loaves and Fishes, or to the charity of your choice.