Jennie Lou (Goldsmith) Cox, age 99, formerly of Edwardsville, Illinois died on August 13, 2021, in Covington, LA. Named after her grandmother, Jennie was born at home on a farm in southern Jasper County, IL, on March 18, 1922, the daughter of Lowell and Lela (Michels) Goldsmith. She married Charles H. Cox on August 29, 1947, in Olney, IL. He preceded her in death on December 11, 2014.

Surviving are two sons, Charles Gregory Cox (wife Joan) of Covington, LA, and Doug Cox of Burbank, CA, and grandchildren Charles S. Cox and Sally Cox of New Orleans, LA. Also surviving is a sister, Naomi Welsh of Belleville, IL, nieces, nephews, and other relatives.

She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Leon D. Goldsmith of Olney, IL, and Lowell Goldsmith of West Salem, IL, sisters-in-law, Elizabeth L. Goldsmith of Olney, and Anna Mae Goldsmith of West Salem.

Jennie started her education by attending Brush College, a country schoolhouse where all eight grades were taught in one room. She walked a mile to and from school everyday. On winter days when the weather was bad her father walked with her. She graduated from the three-year Dundas, IL, high school, then finished her fourth year of high school in Olney, IL.

After graduating from Eastern Illinois State Teachers College, now Eastern Illinois University, in 1944, Jennie returned to Olney to teach shorthand and typing for two years in the same high school from which she graduated.

She and Charlie, a WW2 veteran, met on the campus of the University of Illinois in 1946 where she was completing work for a master’s degree in Education. After Charlie graduated in 1949, they lived in Newton, IL, for two years before buying the Altamont News, the weekly newspaper in Altamont, IL. Jennie quickly learned how to operate a Linotype (the typesetting machine of the day) and to feed newsprint one sheet at a time into the old printing press on press day. The couple edited and published the paper for seven and a half years, winning several state and national awards for writing and news photography. In 1958, they sold the paper and moved to Lebanon, IL, where Jennie taught at McKendree College, now McKendree University, and Belleville Area College, now Southwestern Illinois College.

They moved to Edwardsville in 1961 when Charlie took the job as photographer for the new SIUE campus. Jennie was quickly hired as a business education teacher at East Alton - Wood River High School. She retired in 1985, after a 30-year teaching career. She was a member of the Madison County Retired Teachers Association, the Illinois Retired Teachers Association, the Illinois Education Association, and a past member of Delta Kappa Gamma women teachers’ society. She was a member of ESIC Baptist Church in Edwardsville.

After retiring, Jennie became a skilled quilt maker. She made many bed quilts and wall quilts that were given to relatives and friends, and smaller lap quilts that were distributed to people in hospice care. She was also known for her gooseberry pie, her carrot cake, and her wonderful smile. Jennie always liked to help people who had fallen on misfortune, because she never forgot the hard times of living on the farm in depression days. She later adopted a saying her mother often used: "It’ll all work out." It always did for Jennie.

There will be a celebration of her life at ESIC Baptist Church in Edwardsville on Saturday, August 21. Visitation is at 4:00 PM with a service following at 4:45 PM. The service will also be live streamed on the ESIC Baptist Church Facebook page. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to ESIC Baptist Church or Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research.

Telegraph & Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, IL - August 17, 2021.