Birth Date:
1921-10-31
Deceased Date:
1987-02-15
Obituary:
Edythe Louise Combs Fox was born on October 31, 1921, the fifth child of Simon and Janie Combs, in Hazard, Kentucky. As a child Edythe loved learning, and had a strong desire to go to college and become a teacher. Edythe attended Liberty High School, and graduated in 1939. After graduation, she attended Kentucky State Normal School (now Kentucky State University), in Frankfort, Kentucky. In 1941 at the start of WWII, Edythe had to leave Kentucky State, and return to Hazard. Her brothers, John and James, who were both teachers, joined the military and had to leave their classrooms. When Edythe returned home, she substituted for her brothers in their classrooms. Several years into the war, Edythe left Hazard again, but this time she ventured to Dayton, Ohio. In Dayton, she got a job at Wright Field, now known as Wright/Patterson Air Force Base. She worked in an airplane assembly plant that was produced airplanes for the war effort in Europe and the Pacific. Edythe moved in with her older sister, Christine, who had previously moved to Dayton.
Not long after Edythe arrived in Dayton, Christine introduced her to Austin Fox, from Clay City, Kentucky. They got married one month later, on February 23, 1943, and the young couple moved in with Austin’s older brother, Arch Fox and his wife on College Street. In 1947, Austin and Edythe purchased their first and only home, a little “shotgun” style duplex at 344 Royal Street. Austin and Edythe lived on one side of the duplex and rented the other side out to Edythe’s cousin and his wife. Over the years, 344 Royal became a layover for many of Edythe’s relatives, who migrated to Dayton in search of opportunity. Of Edythe’s nine (9) siblings, five (5) lived with her and Austin, when they arrived in Dayton. They used her home as a spring board to the lives they established in Dayton for themselves and their families.
In 1946, they began adding to their family. Their first son, Austin Paul, named after Austin and Paul Combs, Edythe’s younger brother. In 1949, David Irving was born, who had the first name of one of Edythe’s cousins and Austin’s middle name. Things were quiet on the kid front for a few years, until 1953, when Edythe gave birth to her and Austin’s first daughter, Marva Eileen. Then in rapid fashion the twins Cherise and Cheryl Ann were born in 1955, Byron Leon in 1956, and Mitzi Felice in 1957, who was Edythe’s last child.
Throughout the child rearing years, Edythe cared for the children, while Austin worked at Delco Products, which was a General Motors factory. Occasionally, Edythe would do “day work” or house cleaning for whites, who lived on the other side of town. Everyday she went to work, she caught a bus to downtown Dayton, and would have to transfer to a second bus. The second bus would then transport her to the neighborhood where she worked. After she worked an eight-hour day, she received between $5 and $8 for her services. She would then reverse her path home, where she would prepare dinner for Austin and their children.
Along with all of her responsibilities as wife and mother, she also found time to be socially active and exercise her mind. She helped form and was a member of the Kentucky Club, which was made up of her family and other friends from Kentucky, who had migrated to Dayton. The club became so successful that they purchased a club house on Germantown Road. Edythe also loved to write. She even wrote a book about a fictional after-hours club in Hazard. The book, although never published, was a warm narrative of life in Appalachia during the war. Edythe was an avid reader of practically any kind of book. She particularly loved novels.
Edythe was very active in the PTA at her children’s school, Weaver Elementary. Edythe held the position of PTA president for several years, and was a regular fixture at Weaver. She played a key role in organizing an effort to construct a gymnasium Weaver. The gymnasium stood for nearly thirty-five years.
As her children moved from elementary school to high school, Edythe became a para-professional for the Dayton Board of Education (DBE). It was her first full time job since she worked at Wright Field during War II. Edythe developed many relationships and life long friends working for the DBE, and she was a vital asset in the schools where she worked.
Edythe was people organizer and an advocate for social change. She volunteered time in a program named “Model Cities,” which was an urban redevelopment project in Dayton in the late 1960's. She also organized block parties in her neighborhood, and she was a key organizer of the first Combs Family Reunion in 1975, in Dayton, Ohio.
Edythe never met a person she could not get along with. She was a great communicator, and loved working with people. She was respected by all that knew her, and she loved all people. She always had more love to share with others. Her kids often argued about which one she loved the most, because they all felt each one was the most special in her eyes. She was able to love on those that needed it most, while those who were stronger never felt forgotten.
Edythe’s greatest goal was to get her children educated. She saw six of her seven children receive bachelors degrees from Central State University, the University of Dayton, Wilberforce University, and from her alma mater Kentucky State University. Her young graduates went on to earn five (5) advance degrees to include two PhD’s. When her children were young, she preached to them the importance of a good education, and never made college an option for them, she presented it as an essential. This attitude for pushing education came from her having to leave Kentucky State, and life’s situations never allowing her another opportunity to finish college. She vowed that if she could not finish college, her children would, and ultimately they did. Although the answer may never be known, Edythe’s children certainly exceeded the dreams she had for them.
Edythe transitioned from this life in 1987 and her husband, Austin followed in 1989. Edythe in addition to welcoming her seven children, she was also blessed to see seventeen grandchildren, and today, she has twenty-two great-grandchildren. Edythe’s life though challenging, was a life well lived. She was a pioneer of sorts, a trailblazer, who cut a path through life that cleared the way for so many others that followed. We have missed her over the years since she has been gone, but her love for family still echoes in hearts, we who know and love her.
The Fox Family
