Virginia Blair Cox
Published 5:16 pm Tuesday, March 16, 2021
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Virginia “Jenny” Blair Cox, 91, passed away the evening of March 12 in Longwood, Fla., after a brief illness.
Born in Suffolk on Dec. 18, 1929, to Thomas and Ossie Blair, Jenny was one of the 13 Blair siblings well known through the decades in the Suffolk community.
Jenny attended The Boston Conservatory of Music studying voice and piano. In Boston, she met the love of her life, William “Bill” Cox. When Jenny transferred to Radford Women’s college, they maintained an extended long-distance romance and married after graduation. Jenny left Virginia to join Bill first in New Jersey, then moving to upstate New York and finally to Florida in 1972, where they spent the rest of their lives. In Florida, Jenny worked as a partner with her husband in the COX CORPORATION home building business and decorated their model and custom homes. Her son Bill and his wife, Susan, are still carrying on Bill and Jenny’s COX home building tradition.
Jenny throughout her life was an amazing athlete, excelling in every sport she tackled. She played women’s basketball in high school, snow and water skied as an adult and played local team tennis until her late 80s. She dominated the sports activities at her retirement community Village on The Green in Longwood, Fla., where she spent the last 14 years of her life.
Jenny followed her Baptist faith throughout her adult life and was a member of the First Baptist Sweetwater church in Longwood, Fla. Church and volunteer work allowed her to continue to use her singing voice throughout her life.
Recently her brothers George, William and James had all passed away in Suffolk. She was also preceded in death by her sisters, Juanita and Mary, her brothers, Thomas and Cornelius, and her husband, William Cox. She is survived by brothers Robert, David and Joe; two sisters, Pearl and Catherine; three children, Kim, Bill and Jeff; and nine grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Jennifer, Courtney, Blair, Owen, Jonathan, Isabella, Parker, Carly and Presley.
The family will receive relatives and friends from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 19, 2021, in the R.W. Baker & Co. Funeral Home and Crematory, 509 W. Washington St. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 20, 2021, at Holly Lawn Cemetery in Suffolk.
Virginia loved flowers, and they would be welcome. If you would like to donate in her name, she would be pleased at your support of Friends of Barnabas (https://www.fobf.org) and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (https://www.stjude.org). R.W. Baker & Co. Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the family. Condolences may be registered at RWBakerFH.com.