Linda Beth (Hughes) Cox was born in Elwood, Nebraska, on Aug. 29, 1942, to Francis Hughes and Dorothy Reynolds Hughes, the oldest of five children.
Her pharmacist father moved the family to Arnold, Nebraska, when he opened the Hughes Drug Store in 1947. Linda graduated from Arnold High School in 1960 as valedictorian. She played volleyball and participated in many school activities. She also worked at the soda fountain at the family drug store, and sold tickets at her grandfather Reynold’s movie theater.
After high school, she enrolled in nurses training at Clarkston College.
She married J Richard Giles in 1963 and moved to his family ranch north of Mullen.
This union resulted in three children: Mallory, Michael and Joan.
She later divorced in 1977 and moved to Mullen, where she worked at the Mullen Hospital as a nurse’s aid and went on the ambulance as an EMT with Lloyd Ginkens as a driver since it was his Chevy station wagon. She went back to school at Mid Plains and received her LPN license. With the LPN degree, she and Joan moved to Mitchell, South Dakota, where she was then able to complete her RN degree within one year.
Returning to Mullen, she married Marvin Cox on May 29, 1981, at Hastings Methodist Church where her uncle was pastor at the time.
She began working for the Sandhills Community Health Care Agency where she would provide immunizations and health screenings in a four county area for over 15 years. This was her most favorite nursing position.
She and Marvin lived on the Cox Ranch northwest of Mullen until they moved to town in 2003. She loved gardening, flowers, and the Sandhills. Learning to be a rancher’s wife was a thrill as she enjoyed cooking for the hay crew and even helping Marvin with C-sections on cows during Easter dinners. As a nurse she could stitch up the cow pretty good!
After funding reductions to the SDHD, she helped establish the Oakwood Assisted Living facility in Valentine, and then worked at the Sutherland rest home until she retired.
Linda loved her family very much and enjoyed big family dinners at the holidays. She loved to cook and always made sure there was plenty of food, many items directly from her garden. Her grandchildren were a huge part of her life, and she always wanted to know what they were doing. You can guarantee she always had a cookie or two in the jar for when they stopped by. She also always made sure the grandchildren and great-grandchildren had a Christmas ornament from Grandma and Grandpa every year.
Once retired, Linda and Marvin tried to travel a bit each year and went to trapshooting contests in Arizona and Nevada in winter, and during the summer to contests in Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota.
In early 2019 she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) which is a degenerative disease with no known cure. She continued her active life as long as she could but finally had to enter the Linden Court care facility in April 2023.
She passed away Aug. 26, 2024, with her family close by.
She is survived by her husband of 43 years Marvin and their children, Mallory, Donnie (Deb), Jamie, Michael, Joan (Clay), and David as well as grandchildren Zach (Erin), Tristen, Garrett, Josh (Katie), Damian, Darien (Maria), DeNae, Savanna, Nathan, Lilly, and Will as well as 6 greatgrandchildren, and 2 brothers and 1 sister and several nephews and nieces.
Funeral services will be held Oct. 3, 2024, at the Mullen Methodist Church. A dinner will be provided at the church with services at 2:00 p.m. Internment will be in the Mullen Cedarview Cemetery.
Memorials may be sent to Dry Valley Church or the ALS Association.