Tony Lee Cox

Tony Lee Cox, loving husband and father, passed away in his home on Monday, November 18, 2024 at the age of 82. 

Tony was born in rural Baca County, Colorado, on July 5, 1942 to William B. Cox and Marion Louise Duke Cox. Tony’s family had moved from Oklahoma to Colorado so his father could teach school, but, after Baca County developed into the epicenter of the Dust Bowl, the family soon returned to western Oklahoma. Tony graduated from Camargo High School in Dewey County. 

A lifelong learner with many interests, Tony worked his way through Southwestern Oklahoma State with jobs ranging from washing dishes to operating a combine during the summer wheat harvest. At Southwestern, he earned a bachelor’s degree in math and physics in 1966. He had initially majored in art until an instructor suggested he might want to reconsider.

Upon graduating his first job was as a seismologist with the National Geodetic Survey in Antarctica at Byrd Station. Like most of the early researchers, he had a geographic feature of Antarctica, Cox Bluff, named for him. His next job was with an oil company that sent him north to Canada to work on seismic exploration near the Arctic Circle. After those frigid adventures, he said “no more cold” and settled in the Tulsa area where he worked in technology for the next several decades. He retired from BP Amoco in Tulsa as a software engineer after a career that saw him design electronic devices, install computer systems on oil drilling ships at sea, and develop software for oil reservoir simulations. He also contributed to the 2003 Encyclopedia of Computer Science. 

After his retirement, he pursued various interests including reading, woodworking, gardening, and, especially, genealogy, which led him to spend many hours corresponding with other researchers, poring over historical records, and analyzing DNA data.

Tony’s big white beard often attracted attention at Christmas. His family loved teasing him about the time a reindeer at the Christmas Craft Fair got away from its handler and tried to follow him into a building. He finally quit wearing his favorite red jacket during the holidays when a grown man chased him across a parking lot to tell Tony what he wanted for Christmas.

Tony was a man of few words, but he possessed an analytical mind, a clever wit, and a big heart. Despite the many adventures of his youth, his favorite place in all the world was home, and his favorite people were his family.

He was preceded in death by his mother and father, his sisters, Mary and Betty, and his brothers, Dale and Billy. He is survived by his wife, Kathy of the home, his son Logan and his daughter-in-law, Angelina, of Norman, Oklahoma, his brother, Berge, of Great Bend, Kansas, and his many wonderful nephews and nieces.

At Tony’s request no public memorial service will be held.

Family and friends may share memories online at www.brownfamilycares.com. The family of Tony Lee Cox entrusted his care and cremation to Brown Funeral Home & Cremations, 210 S. Broadway, Coweta, OK 74429, 918-486-5515.