I will always remember Diddle--the picnics and summers at Cove Lake and Mtn. Magazine.  She taught me how to swim.  The big Christmas' at the Fox house with the breakfast after midnight Mass. She brought every child a gift and cigarettes and liquor for the adults. Mama and Papa Fox always gave us each $5 and we were rich--my how times have changed. What wonderful memories and I could go one forever.  Rest in Peace.

I called her Foxie, I was one of her Med. Tech students in Blood Bank Department at the Old St. Joseph Hospital in 1969 where she was the Supervisor. I heard the news about her passing after my vacation in Florida. She was a very nice person, she was one of my good mentor.I will never forget her. I pray that she is now sitting beside God.My condolences to her FAMILY.
Carmen C. Chico

And then there were none...

The Frank and Laura Fox family may be measured in God's terms from the birth of Laura Mary Etzkorn Fox in 1891 to the present death of Aunt Dee in 2013.  This encompasses the entire 20th Century.  In practical terms the Foxes extended from a time with no electricity to one experiencing the first African-American President of the United States.  And now, to the loss of those who remain, the whole story of this great family reaches its completion.

It is a paradox that Aunt Dee had no children, except if one considers the 34 nieces and nephews listed in her obituary, all of whom received wisdom and support at one time or another.  I remember calling her in tears in 1998 after Daddy was hospitalized with a heart attack and Mama was home still at home with advanced Alzheimer's disease. I was at my end.  She came to Little Rock and saved Michelle and I from losing ourselves. that was just one of the many kindnesses Aunt Dee and Uncle Jack showed the Baileys. 

Just as paradoxically, I considered Aunt Dee the family matriarch after her "little mama" Ann Fox Bailey and Mama Fox before her.  One story well represents Aunt Dee to me:  When Mama was about half-way through her Alzheimer's decline, she exhibited that maddening German stubborn streak all the Foxes had about certain things and to convince her of anything usually required her going through a chain of command.  Mama thought every day was Sunday (except Sunday!) and she was always ready to go to Mass.  This happened every day for a year.

Daddy would tell her that it was Tuesday and not Sunday.  Mama would then go to Michelle, who would tell her it was Tuesday and not Sunday.  Then she would come to me.  After the hundredth time, I finally tried deceit and told her that John Paul II had convened Vatican III and it was decided that everyone over 75-years old no longer had to attend Mass.

Well, that worked for a while, until one day, Mama said, "I think I'll call Dee about this Mass thing."  She did and Aunt Dee backed me up (I spoke with her first) and that was that.  This was only one of many times Mama's stubbornness took her to calling Dee for a final word.  In the end, the buck stopped with Aunt Dee.

Good bye, Aunt Dee, you are the last of the best.

Dee was wonderful aunt, whether she was giving me her distinctive "Megan" dresses for my birthday, carting us to the YMCA pool or all the way to Arkansas for visits with the Fox family, having us spend the night with her in her Kansas City apartment and sharing her knowledge of growing vegetables and flowers. She was fun loving, straight talking and (when we needed it) stern disciplining in the perfect combination.

I will miss my funny and frank Aunt Dee.  She was so kind to me and my siblings throughout my life. Driving us Fitzsimmons kids in pairs to Paris, endless afternoons at the pool.  She grew wonderful tomatoes and flowers and loved her dogs.  I will miss her humor!

My very fond memories of Dee include so many things:  Her living at the Fitzsimmons' home in a two room 'suite';  spending the night at her apartment on a Murphy bed and a sneaky snack at Winstead's; her being the 'cool' aunt who wore a two-piece bathing suit, and drove a Corvair (I thought it was a Corvette); generously driving one or two of us to Paris, AR for a visit with Momma and Daddy Fox and Fox cousins; inevitably 'up-chucking' on the side of the road on the winding Ozark Mountains; summers at Cove Lake.  You were a marvelous aunt.  Give kisses to all the other heaven inhabitants I know.

Some of us nieces and nephews lovingly called her Aunt Diddle. She will always be that to me. I remember growing up and Aunt Diddle would come back to Paris to visit and we would all gather at the old Fox place where us kids used to always want to play in the minnow pond and that old wrap around porch. The stories that Dad, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Liz, Aunt Diddle, Uncle Gene and Aunt Ann used to tell were priceless. That was many years ago. They will all be missed as well as the other brothers and sisters that I never got to know as well. Rest well in heaven.
Gary and Tracy(Fox)Schluterman

OBITUARY

Virginia Fox Solas

April 23, 1928 – February 17, 2013

McGilley State Line Chapel

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