Nancy Lee Cox

Nancy is survived by her husband of 56 year, Charles "Chuck" Cox, son Charles "Chuck" Jr and his wife Jeanne, of Everett, WA; son Edwin "Ed", his wife Jennifer and their children Ahren, Clark and Nora "KC" Cox, all of Yakima,WA; daughter Jennifer McGowen and her husband David. of Puyallup, WA, their children Elijah McGowan of Ridgecrest, CA and Ethan McGowan, also of Puyallup, WA. She is also survived by her sister, Deb Garver and brother Joe Melander, both of Yakima. Nancy is preceded in death by her parents, Alvin and Dorothy Melander, both also of Yakima.

Besides her own children, Nancy also was a Nanny for several families and in 1996 attended and graduated with honors from the YVC Early Childhood Program. Shortly after receiving her AA in Early Childhood Teaching, she was hired by TRiumph Treatment Centers Riel House Program and eventually became the director of the Child Care and Education program for that facility.

In 1998 Chuck took a teaching position with the Sierra Sands Unified School (SSUSD) in Ridgecrest, CA and in 1999 she moved there after training her replacement for Riel House. She took a position with College Community Services as an advocate for adults with special needs, a position she held for three years.

In 2001, she earned her BA and in 2002 she was offered the position of Director of SSUSD's Mesquite High School's Infant and Toddler Daycare Facility, which provided childcare for young parents, giving them the opportunity to continue their education and graduate. She accepted and filled until the program was closed due to lack of funding. At that point, she again returned to being a Nanny for individual families.

Upon Chuck's retirement, plans were made to return to Washington and in 2021 they made the move back to Yakima to enjoy their retirement years. Nancy and Chuck enjoyed travel and would often take day trips to either visit family or friends, or visit a zoo or animal farms, especially if she could feed the animals. She loved spending time with her kids, grandkids, and Nanny "grandkids", and I am very thankful that all of them had the opportunity to say their goodbyes.