Patricia Cox

Pat Cox, age 72, died January 1, 2021, at Hospice Home Care Comfort Facility in Little Rock.  She was preceded in death by parents, Edward and Grace Pearson and sister, Julia Vandenberg.  She is survived by Tom Cox, her husband of 34 years, and two sons, Bryan and Barrett Hulen and Barrett’s fiancé, Cecily Waybright.   Her father was a Lt. Col in the USAF, and Pat and her mother traveled with him to all his stations. She attended schools in the Philippines and Germany, and in New York, New Jersey, and Michigan, graduating high school in Fayetteville, AR.  The breadth of Pat’s interests and talents were apparent at an early age.  She began painting lessons from her artist mother at age 4, practiced piano from age 5, and started writing poetry at age 7.  She married Mike Hulen at age 19 and lived in Texas and Florida while he served in Vietnam.  When the family moved to Little Rock, Pat studied piano, music composition, and voice at UALR, earning a Bachelor of Music Degree.  She briefly moved to Colorado to continue her studies, but she missed her sons and soon moved back to Little Rock.

Tom was a Chaplain for Hospice Home Care in Little Rock and taught Jazz Studies and Music Theory at UALR when Pat was a student.  He noticed her on campus and asked who she was, but he didn’t meet her before she left for Colorado.  When she returned to Little Rock, she decided to get a Masters in Gifted and Talented.  One summer day when there were not many people on campus, they happened to be coming out of a building at the same time. They spoke and introduced themselves.  That led to a conversation they couldn’t finish while walking to their cars, so they found a bench nearby where they sat down and continued talking.  That was the beginning of a beautiful love story that lasted 34 years.  The next week he asked her for a date, told her to dress casually, and took her fishing.  They married in the morning on December 11, 1986 and returned immediately to the UALR campus where he had a class to teach, and she had one to attend.

She finished her MEd, became a Certified Montessori teacher PreK/K, and taught at NLR Montessori School.  In the UALR Summer Laurel GT program, she taught Intro to Opera.  She wrote materials for Montessori Schools, and published a book, “Teach Me the Continents.”  She studied watercolor painting at Arkansas Arts Center and print making at UALR.  A lover of poetry, she once set and attained a goal of writing “100 Poems in 100 Days.”

Pat was a quiet, somewhat shy person with an infectious laugh and a positive attitude.  She was comfortable with who she was as revealed in an essay she once wrote about her parents.  She said, “I never wanted to be like anyone else except my mother and dad.”  She knew she was loved, and she deeply loved her two sons.   Her husband Tom said, “She exuded grace, loved all kinds of people and always saw the good in them.”  She was a member of Second Presbyterian Church where she was in the Adult Choir, served on the Pastoral Care Team, taught art in the children’s Sunday School and played piano for the Men’s Bible Study Class.  She was also active in Presbyterian Women and the Sermon Roundtable.  She was a member of Little Rock Music Coterie, where she served as secretary; and a performing member of Little Rock Piano Repertory Group.

Tom expressed gratitude for the loving care that Stephen Ministers, Marge Anna Luttrell, and Cindy Edwards gave to Pat during her battle with Alzheimer’s Disease; to the Women’s Pastoral Care Team and Sermon Roundtable group at Second Presbyterian Church; and to special friends, John and Nancy Russ.

Arrangements by Smith Little Rock Funeral Home with a memorial service to be scheduled in the Prayer Garden at Second Presbyterian Church.  Memorials may be made to LifeQuest Arkansas, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock. AR 72227