Kendall's Obituary
Kendall “Kenny” Gordon Cox was born to Tyndall Carnie Cox and Margaret Jane Cox in Leon, Iowa on November 11, 1950. He grew up alongside four sisters, Hollie, Connie, Becky, and Rachel, in a family that moved frequently between Montana and Iowa, to and from many different houses.
Frequently, as a result of various rapidly changing circumstances, Kendall and Connie were left in the care of his aunt and uncle, Carrol and Darlene Woodard. Therefore, it is vitally important to mention that throughout his whole life, there was only one house that Kenny really thought of as home, and as of this writing the couple who served as second parents to him still live there, a few miles away from Leon, surrounded by his cousins, second and third cousins, and a very rich farming culture that carried forth through every aspect of Kendall’s life.
At each stage in his life, Kendall took great joy in knowing, caring for, arguing with, and loving his father, mother, aunt and uncle, each of his sisters, and his wife and son. He remained thankful for them, prayed for them, and drove them to distraction with an endless series of helpful–and unhelpful–opinions, facts, and prayers. He will be missed terribly by his family.
Graduating high school in 1969, Kendall was drafted into the United States Army where he served two tours in Vietnam, earning the Army Commendation Medal as a clerk typist. From there he attended Northwest Bible College and Lee University, seeking to become a history teacher and eventually settling into a job as a warehouseman in Great Falls, Montana, when his GI Bill funding ran out.
Kendall was a devout Christian and very active in his home church, Sunnyside Church of God, from his childhood up until his passing. His faith saw him through every imaginable type of difficulty or problem. It enabled him to perform the most difficult duties imaginable with grace and honor, and eventually it enabled him to meet his wife of 36 years, Maxima Cox (then Maxima Saavedra Lopez). The couple married late in life and were surprised and thankful to God when they discovered that against all medical predictions, they were able to have a son, who they named Nathaniel, meaning gift from God. While raising a first and only child late in life certainly presented a steep learning curve to both parents, they soldiered through and neither of them ever gave up or stopped caring. Kendall purported himself with grace and honor through this time and made of himself a good example for his son, who remains thankful for the effort, time, and continual determination to this day.
These undertakings of service, love, and faithfulness did not occur in a vacuum. Kendall, his father Tyndall, and his lifelong friend Wendell Sangster grew together in their little church in Great Falls for decades. They became a fixture that for many, many years provided strength to their community, kindness to those in need, and peace and honor to not only their families but everyone around them. The three men balanced out each other’s dispositions and personalities, covered for each other, and together were an incredible force for their faith and community, and the communities of numerous other church congregations. When Tyndall passed on, Wendell and Kendall mourned their spiritual brother together and picked up the load of providing for, supporting, and guiding their people. When Wendell passed away nearly a decade later Kendall bore the grief with pained acceptance and settled into his role as the one who remained behind. With each passing year he worked harder to keep up with the work he saw as his duty, to the church, to his family, but he remarked numerous times in private that he was looking forward to seeing his brothers again. While he is certainly mourned by his family, they nonetheless are grateful that the three, once separated, are together again.
For the last two decades of his life, Kendall worked very hard as a land developer putting in time and effort because it gave him a constructive target into which he could pour his efforts, to benefit his family and his community. Though at times he drove various colleagues, associates, family members, and city officials to frustrated distraction with his tenacious efforts, he always remained thankful for the work and dutiful in its execution.
The efforts, sentiments, trusted confidences, arguments, shared duties, and the honorable and loving witness of Kendall Gordon Cox left his mark on everyone he contacted in his life, and with his passing those hallmarks of his character will remain in the thankfulness of his family.
Kenny was preceded in death by Tyndall C. Cox, Margaret J. Cox, Connie Kingsford, and Hollie Miracle. He is survived by Maxima Cox, Nathaniel Cox, Darlene Woodard, and Carol Woodard.
A visitation will be held on Friday, March 8, 2024, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Hillcrest Lawn Memorial Chapel. The funeral service will be on Saturday, March 9, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. at Hillcrest Lawn Memorial Chapel.
