John Neal Cox passed away on February 18, 2018 after a hard fought battle with leukemia and heart disease. John, the youngest of six kids, was born to Homer Orville and Ella Lucy (Bobby) on October 24, 1938 in Phoenix, Arizona. John was the son of migrant workers, and spent much of his childhood traveling through northern Arizona and Central California, picking fruit and going to school whenever he could. Though he didn't graduate from high school as a teenager, he later went to night school while working full-time, and proudly received his high school diploma in 1976. At 18 he joined the army and was, to his great joy, stationed in France and later Belgium. After the military he returned to the US and worked as a traveling salesman for Max Factor cosmetics and later as a store manager for Payless Drug. In 1962, while managing a Payless Drug, John met a cashier named Dorothy Long. He told her she was wearing too much makeup. She washed it off. They fell in love. John and Dorothy married on September 8, 1963 in Sunnyvale, California. Wanting a better quality of life for their three kids, John and Dorothy moved their family to Rupert, Idaho where they ran John's Market until 1982. The people of Rupert can verify that John's Market had the best damn ribs and chicken around. After selling John's Market, John stayed in retail and opened the Rupert Trading Post and later Boulevard Gun and Pawn in Nampa. His customers knew they would always get a fair deal and good-natured insults. John was devoted to, and survived by Dorothy, his wife of 54 years, their three children: El'Dee Ferland, John Cox, and Cathy McDonald (his favorite); four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents Homer and Ella Lucy; his step-father Rudy Lake; and his siblings: James, Leo, Homer Jr., Sally Jane Stallings, and Audrey Penfold. Funeral Services will be held at 10 am on Friday, February 23 at Zeyer Funeral Chapel, 83 North Midland Blvd, Nampa, ID 83651. 208-467-7300 Condolences may be expressed at zeyerfuneralchapel.com.
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