Vilma Mary Fox

Vilma spent her childhood in England living across from Wicksteed Park, where she delighted in playing tennis with friends. Her parents operated a clothing shop in the front of their home—her father a tailor and her mother selling ladies’ clothing—while the family lived in the back, surrounded by a beautiful English garden filled with flowers.

Following school, Vilma worked for a radiologist at the local hospital, where she met Canadian nurses working in England. Encouraged by them, she moved to Canada a few months later, traveling by ocean liner and settling in Sarnia, Ontario where they became lifelong friends. While in Sarnia, she met the love of her life, Tony Fox, and the two were married in 1959.

In 1970, Tony was transferred to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the family relocated with their three children. While raising her family was the center of Vilma’s life, she also cherished gardening, baking cookies and traditional mince pies at Christmas, and traveling. She was actively involved in the Flower and Altar Guilds at her church and frequently assisted with Tony’s business endeavors when needed. Above all, she considered being a mother her most important role.

Vilma was preceded in death by her parents, Claude and Alice Ince, and her husband Tony Fox.

She is survived by her three children: Michael (Maggie) Fox of Hixson, Tennessee; Jocelyn (Richard) Draaisma of Dallas, Texas; and Laura (Ken) Burton of Prattville, Alabama. She was a devoted grandmother of five wonderful grandchildren: Madeline (Taylor) Johnson, William Burton, Bridget Draaisma, Kristen Burton, and Samuel Fox.

A funeral service will be held at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church on Signal Mountain, Tennessee, at 2:00 p.m. on April 19, 2026, followed by a reception in the parish hall.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Vilma’s memory to St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church or to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

Arrangements are by the North Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory, and Florist, 5401 Highway 153, Hixson, TN 37343.

Please share your thoughts and memories at www.chattanooganorthchapel.com