Obituary of David Thomas Cox

David Thomas Cox, age 77, went to be with his Lord and Savior on Wednesday, December 18, 2019. He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on August 8, 1942, to Roy and Evelyn Cox. Roy worked with the Southern Railway and Evelyn was a homemaker to David and his younger sister, Leah.  Evelyn, often called “Evy,” was also a singer with the Bill Dexter Band, working in the Knoxville, Tennessee, area in the 1940s and 1950s. Her “signature” song was Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey? David graduated from Rule High School in 1960 and received his Master’s degree in science from the University of Tennessee.  He married Judy Sampson on November 12, 1965, at Grove City Baptist Church in Knoxville. They just celebrated 54 precious years together. After graduation in 1968, David was offered a job with the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission (later the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission).  His office, a shed in the back of his co-worker, Dennis Auth’s house, in Tallahassee, Florida.  For two years, they collected scientific data from the Apalachicola and Suwanee Rivers. In the summer of 1970 he and Auth were transferred to Melbourne to study the St. Johns River. The office was on Pineapple Street in Eau Gallie and he learned to ride an airboat in the Indian River. He and is crew worked relentlessly, striving to protect and preserve the St. Johns River. He and the men and women he worked with made a huge impact on managing the river. Some of the people he worked with were Dennis Auth, Ken Rawlings, Steve Moore, Ed Vosatka, Denise Benson, and Bob Eisenhauer. He was a member of the governor’s Lake Washington Task Force and in 1975 and 1976 he received the County Award in the Field of Water Resources for Brevard County by the Florida Wildlife Federation.  In the 1980s, he was an adjunct professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. He served the Lord in four different Baptist churches: Harbor City, Central, First of Eau Gallie, and First of Indialantic. Over the years, he had taught Sunday school, led Church Training classes, College/Career classes, clown troupes, and loved the Drama Ministry.  He was always part of the Music Ministries in each church and his testimony about the Lord came out through the choirs, ensembles, musical dramas, and was a beloved soloist. In 1976, he sang It’s Time to Pray in a joint choir Bicentennial at the Melbourne Auditorium on the 4th of July. When David retired in July of 2004, Jim Waymer wrote an article in the paper about his retirement. The article called, “River Protector changes career.” included a picture of “Duckweed” the clown and explained that David would be starting a retirement career of family entertainment with his wife, Judy. They called their endeavor “Funny Business.” David and Judy traveled to many cities across the nation to learn from the best professionals how to entertain as clowns, pirates, magicians, face painting skills for Judy and balloon art for David. They also took caring clown classes in order to know how to cheer up people in hospitals, nursing homes, and rehab facilities. People loved to see “Dr. Doofus” come to their bedside. Besides doing parties, David began working at Beef O’Brady’s on Lake Washington Road when it first opened. He also volunteered at Uno’s in Viera.  Both restaurants treated him as family and I know the staff and patrons will miss him so much.  Not long ago, a gentleman said they only got into the area about once or twice a year, but his granddaughter always asked to go see Mr. Dave. He also loved his Rolling Reader classes and teachers, Lambert and Garrison, at Harbor City Elementary.  He would delight the children with dressing up as a pirate at Halloween time and dress as a clown at the end of the school party for some magic, balloons and fun. He and Judy often entertained as Santa and Mrs. Claus to the preschools in the area. They also enjoyed doing magical summer reading programs for the local libraries. Last year David and Judy joined the Space Coast Magic Club. They enjoyed learning much from President John Anderson and fellow magicians. David leaves behind his wife Judy, son Brian (Jilaine) Maryville, TN, son Greg (Susan) Ocala, FL, sister Leah (Alan Wallace) Knoxville, TN and grandchildren Caleb, Joshua, Rachel, Evonna and Devon. The Space Coast Magic Club will hold a Broken Wand ceremony at David’s “Celebration of Life.” David’s “Celebration” will take place on Monday, December 30, 2019, at the First Baptist of Indialantic from 11:00 a.m. – Noon. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to First Baptist Indialantic Children’s Ministry,