Charlene Welsh Cox

Charlene Welsh Cox, of Genesee Village, CO. and Grant City, MO. passed away in Golden, CO. on January 21. She was born on her family farm near Grant City, MO, August 1, 1929 to Ora Blanche Wisecup Welsh and Charles Richard Welsh. She was educated in a one-room schoolhouse in Worth County prior to graduating from Grant City High School in 1947. Charlene graduated from Northwest Missouri State College in 1952, where she was a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority. After graduating with a degree in Fine Arts, she worked at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, first as an artist and later as a designer. In 1956, she started her Master’s Degree and met her husband Joseph Phifer Cox at the University of Kansas. They married July 23rd 1956 at Danforth Chapel in Lawrence, Kansas. Charlene was known to family and friends as Chuck. With her husband and growing family of four children, she finished her Master’s Degree at the University of Kansas in 1970 with a degree in Gold and Silversmithing. Chuck was an award winning jewelry designer using the lost-wax method of gold and silversmithing. She was voted “Best of Show” at Fine Arts Shows throughout Kansas and Colorado. She was also a featured artist in galleries in Wichita, KS. and Evergreen, CO. After years of filling their homes with antiques, Charlene and her husband, Joe, opened and ran several antique stores in Colorado, Missouri and Kansas. They spent their years traveling between the family farm in Missouri and their home in Colorado. Charlene was member of Daughters of the American Revolution and a proud recipient of the Missouri Century Farms. She is survived by: her husband Joseph P. Cox of Genesee Village, CO. and Grant City, MO.; daughter Susan Stevens (Jim) of Shawnee, KS., daughter Cheryl Lafon(JB) of Colorado Springs, CO., son David R. Cox of Las Vegas, NV., daughter, Cynthia Cox (Michael Trealoff) of Centennial, CO., her sister Gwen Messner of New York and five grandchildren Bradley, Trevor and Paige Stevens and Lora and Michael Lafon. A memorial service will be held later in the year in Grant City, MO. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Department of Fine Arts, Northwest Missouri State University, 800 University Drive, Maryville, MO 64468