Jerry Leroy Cox

Jerry L Cox, 91, of Canon City, was born in Hamilton Missouri on April 18 th , 1932, and
entered eternity with his Lord and Savior on August 15 th , 2023, surrounded by family.
He attended Canon City High School where he met his wife. He became close to his
classmates always keeping in touch and attending along with planning the reunions
up until the last several years. In his early career years, he started working as a
mechanic where his sister Joan was the bookkeeper. He then worked for
McCormick’s as a mechanic during the day and at nights he would work as a guard
at DOC. At times he would also travel to Twin Lakes helping to build a cabin. While
working at DOC he was part of creating the well-known Honor Guard. It was here at
DOC where he retired a Major – head of security after 30+ years of service. When he
was not working, his greatest joy was spending time with his loved ones and helping
everyone around him. He shared 48.5 years with his loving wife Lavonne “Bonnie”
Higgins and the mother of his children. Summers were spent in Blue Mesa in the
motorhome and on the lake with his family. In the fall he and his sons went hunting
just north of Blue Mesa. The winters were spent in South Texas where his family
loved to visit them. After the passing of his beloved wife, he married Evelyn Berardi
in 2002 who he learned to polka dance with. During this time, he picked up ATV
riding with several friends where they would spend the day in the great outdoors.
After Evelyn’s passing, he married Raelita Moses in 2009 who he learned to love dogs
with and enjoyed spending the winters in Arizona. Throughout his time on earth, he
has been involved with his local churches wherever he was including the winter
travels. It was in the Canon Community Baptist Church where he served as a security
guard, which he loved to do. He was also a part of the Mount Moriah Masonic Lodge
No. 0015. He also served in the Ready Reserve Armed Forces as a corporal between
the years 1951-1959.
As his family has been sharing memories it has been hard to choose the favorites. His
granddaughters wanted to share a few of their favorite memories with you. Jennifer
remembers building the playhouse with him that was built just for her. She also
remembers playing dolls with him, but if you asked, he was not playing with dolls.
Jennifer also remembers a time when they were working on her car together and
while she was ready to give up, he said no they would figure it out, which he did.
Meghan’s memory is when she was staying at grandma and grandpa’s house, she
wanted something from her house and while grandma said no, of course grandpa
said yes. He dropped everything just to go get what Meghan and Lindsey wanted to
play with. Meghan felt so loved by him that day, yes it was barbies and he even
played with the girls. Another memory was shortly after grandma’s passing, grandpa
and Meghan went camping together. Meghan was worried it would be boring
without grandma, but it turned out to be such a fun time. They went out to eat
every night, something Meghan never got to do, they may have even eaten at
McDonalds several times. Lindsey remembers the scooter rides to take her to the
park. For birthday dinners her choice was K-Bobs just for the ice cream, which he
also loved. One of her last memories was at a recent Christmas get together, as
people were introducing themselves and it came to Grandpa, he said “I’m Jerry and I
made all this” spreading out his arms and the smile on his face showed the pride he
had for his family-his 3 boys, granddaughters and great grand kids. Normally he
was quiet and reserved so this caught everyone off guard and was quite a comical
moment for him. Everyone shared a laugh that evening. It was his big heart, his

wealth of knowledge and his joy that was a constant gift. His family and friends will
be lost without him, but they know he is in a better place.
He is survived by his wife Raelita (Moses)Cox; Sons Larry (Marsha) Cox, and Jim
(Daina) Cox; Step-Daughter Sharon Berardi Stecher; Step-Son Eddy (Tamera)
Hanford; Granddaughters; Jennifer Cox, Meghan (Joel) Helzer, Lindsey (Joshua) Clark,
Jamie Delvecchio, and Cory DelVecchio; Great grandkids Penelope, Bennett, and
Magnolia Helzer; Octavia and Blake Clark; as well as countless family and friends, and
his dog wags.
He is preceded in death by his Parents, Orval and Sadie Cox; wife Lavonne (Higgins)
Cox; Wife Evelyn (Berardi) Cox; Son Dan Cox; Daughter-in-law Sherry Cox; Grandson
Daniel B Cox; and Sister Joan Campbell.
A visitation will be held at 10:00am with his Celebration of Life to begin at 11:00am on
Tuesday, August 22, 2023, at Holt Funeral Home 806 Macon, Ave, Canon City, CO
81212. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to St Jude’s Children’s Hospital in
Jerry’s Memory.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Jerry Leroy Cox, please visit our floral store.