School officials, family members, Warren County Middle School teachers and staff, along with the public, gathered at the school auditorium yesterday to name the campus in honor of the late John H. Cox, the first principal of Warren County High School, which was established during the consolidation of schools in the 1960s.
The event also unveiled a new sign that designates WCMS as John H. Cox Campus.
Cox started with the school system in 1950 and left in 1972, according to his son, Assistant Director of Schools Bobby Cox,
“This is a great honor for my dad,” Bobby said. “He put a lot of blood, sweat and tears not only in education, but in this school when it was first City High School and then when it turned into Warren County High School. He coached here, was principal here at the time of consolidation when it was a really difficult job to pull everybody together. I just appreciate the School Board honoring him. I know he would say he was not worthy of it, but he was a great influence on me and I think many others, so as a family we’re just thrilled that we can have this honor for him.”
Former WCMS principal Betty Wood, who now serves at the central office as professional development/system evaluation coordinator, explained how the honor came about.
“Mr. Cox passed away last November and an initiative of the board was to recognize Mr. Cox by naming the campus of Warren County Middle School campus as the John H. Cox Campus,” Wood said. “It’s an honor for this campus to bear that name. After that initial effort the middle school was already in the process of creating a digital sign with the help of a lot of corporations and businesses in McMinnville, so we just coupled the two things together and waited for the appropriate time, which just happened to be today. The sign went up Tuesday and is about a $28,000 investment which was totally done by the PTO and all those businesses seeking to better our educational facility. It will bear the name of John H. Cox.”
Wood said those involved really appreciated the efforts of Southern Standard layout artist Jonathan Myers.
“He went through two or three different drawings to create a design that was appropriate for our campus in terms of the mascot, the culture and climate of the school and to incorporate Mr. Cox’s name into that.”
Bobby said he was thrilled with the ceremony honoring his father, which was attended by new WCMS principal Gerald Tidwell, Director of Schools Dr. Jerry Hale, School Board chairman Bob Young, and Col. Thomas B. Vaughn. Vaughn, Hale, Tidwell, Wood and Bobby Cox all spoke of the late Mr. Cox’s integrity and dedication as an educator.
“This is something the board took pride in doing,” said Hale. “Mr. Cox was the first principal of Warren County High School which was housed here at that time, so this is something the board really wanted to do.”
Wood lauded father and son for their service to the school system.
“What I know about Mr. Cox kind of resounds in knowing Bobby,” Wood said. “I’ve talked to some students who went to school while he was principal here, and overwhelmingly what they would say to me was fair, consistent, do the right thing; those were the things that came back to me about him. Those are tributes to him, but more importantly they’re tributes to Bobby, because I see the same things going on in him.”
Vaughn also lauded the elder Cox.
“John Cox deserves to have a campus named after him,” Vaughn said. “John Cox was about 5’7” or 5’8”, but he was 10-feet-tall and bullet proof when it came to being a teacher, coach, mentor, husband, father and human being. John Cox was a yea-sayer, not a nay-sayer; John Cox was an encourager, not a discourager. John Cox was a motivator, not a de-motivator. He touched the lives of so many men and women who have gone on to do great things. So he deserves this honor and I’m pleased to be a part of this.”