Samuel Wilburn Cox Sr., 83

Samuel Wilburn Cox Sr., 83, was born to Estlle Elmo Cox and Ona Vivian Gross on June 4, 1928, in Morgan Co., Ky.; and died May 20, 2012, at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Billings.

When Samuel was 2 years old, he moved from Kentucky to Ohio with his parents. He graduated from high school in Carlisle, Ohio.

It was in high school that he met the love of his life, Arletta Jean Lanier. They were married on Dec. 22, 1945, and raised six children. Samuel and Arletta Jean spent the next 20 years farming near Germantown, Ohio.

They moved to Montana in 1966 where Samuel worked on a road crew repairing the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier Park. In 1967 Samuel found employment at Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. as a millwright, and worked there until his retirement in 1990.

Sam spent many years enjoying the life that Montana had to offer by fishing, hunting, camping, boating and capturing the beauty of Montana in pictures with Arletta Jean always at his side.

Sam and Jean had six children, Samuel Wilburn Cox Jr., Walter Lee Cox, Michael Eugene Cox, Kenneth Nelson Cox, Deborah Ann Beck and Alice Louise Meyer.

Sam is survived by his wife, Arletta Jean; five children; 14 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents; and son, Michael Eugene Cox.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 29, at Columbia Mortuary in Columbia Falls.

Arrangements are entrusted to Columbia Mortuary. You are invited to go to www.columbiamortuary.com to offer condolences and view Sam’s tribute wall.