Velma Cox

Velma “JoAnn” Cox, 86, loving wife, mother, grandmother, and friend passed peacefully to her heavenly home on February 27, 2022, surrounded by her family.

JoAnn was born on March 1, 1935 in St. Louis, Missouri, in a loving pastor’s family to the late Reverend Glenn and Martha (Tinsley) Pace. She grew up in various towns in central and eastern Missouri, as her dad pastored churches throughout the Missouri district of the Church of the Nazarene.  Early in life, JoAnn accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal savior and began a growing, lifelong relationship with her Lord.

JoAnn graduated high school in 1952 in Dexter, Missouri, and later moved to Kansas City to work as an Administrative Assistant, first at the Nazarene Publishing House and later at the International Headquarters of the Church of the Nazarene. She loved typing correspondence to missionaries in global service, while working in the Nazarene World Mission Society department (now Nazarene Missions International).  In 1959, JoAnn married Robert “Bob” Cox, to whom she was married for more than 62 years.  In the mid-1960s, she began working at home in order to raise their son, Keith, then returned to work at an insurance company once Keith entered high school and college. One of her greatest joys in life was building close relationships with her granddaughters, Courtney and Haley.

She was an active member of Nall Avenue Church of the Nazarene for more than 60 years.  She had a passion for serving the Lord and she cherished all of her family, friends, and neighbors.

JoAnn is survived by her loving husband, Bob; her son and daughter in-law Keith and Julie Cox; two granddaughters Courtney and Haley; a sister Virginia Dace; a brother in-law Donnie Cox; and several nieces and nephews.  She is preceded in death by her parents Rev. Glenn and Martha Pace; a brother Jerry Pace; her brother-in-law Allen Dace; and her sister in-laws Shirley Butcher and Mary Lou Smith.

The family will receive visitors at 9:00am, with a funeral service following at 10:00am on Saturday March 5, 2022, at the Nall Avenue Church of the Nazarene in Prairie Village, Kansas.  In lieu of flowers, the family suggest contributions to Shelter KC : a Kansas City Rescue Mission, which can be given through Nall Avenue Church of the Nazarene.