The Community Foundation of the NRV 25-26 Annual Report

AN EVOLVING FAMILY LEGACY The Cox Family Trust

Wally and Virginia Cox. Photos courtesy of Deanna Cox. I n each stage of their lives, Wally and Virginia Cox made the communities they lived in a priority, especially with their interest in the arts. Originally from the tiny town of Rockford, Michigan, they met in high school and married when Wally was in college. Together they raised two children, Deanna and Lenny. Wally spent most of his career in accounting while Virginia was a homemaker and active volunteer. Throughout the years, the Cox family moved around Virginia, eventually settling in Bedford County for two decades. During their time in Bedford, Wally and Virginia were active with their local theater, Little Town Players – Wally as a regular performer and Virginia volunteering at the box office. Eventually Deanna joined her father in his accounting/auditing business, and they worked together for three decades. After Deanna and her husband, Hal, had their son Eli, Wally and Virginia moved to Blacksburg to be closer to them. Deanna describes her parents as generous, funny, socially conscious people who loved to learn. “My mom loved to tell a story,” said Deanna. “My dad had a real dry sense of humor. People were like, ‘was he saying a joke? Should I laugh?’”

Creating a Family Trust Wally created the family’s trust in the early 2000s. He used rent from an inherited family farm to add funds to the trust each year. At the time, the family focused mostly on donating to arts-related organizations. When Deanna took over the trust in 2006, she and her mom would develop a list each year of local organizations to support, including the Blacksburg Master Chorale and the Montgomery County Christmas Store. In 2016, Deanna sold the farmland and put the proceeds in the trust. Life Challenges Inspire a New Giving Focus In 2017, Deanna’s son Eli was in trouble. After several scrapes with the law, he ended up spending three months in jail. From that experience, Deanna and Hal had a front-row seat to the agony of having a child in jail. Meanwhile, Eli witnessed how difficult (and expensive) it was for inmates to maintain connections with their families. This sparked an idea for Deanna. “I think people forget that when somebody makes a mistake and goes to jail, that the family suffers quite a bit as well,” said Deanna.

11