Edna Eleanore (Bentley) Fox passed peacefully into the arms of her Lord on Saturday evening, May 5, 2018. Born May 18, 1934 in Erie, Pennsylvania, Edna was the third of five children of Rev. and Mrs. Jay and Lena (Ogle) Bentley.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Marian (Bentley) Jones and her infant son, David Wayne Fox. She is survived by brothers, David and Dale Bentley and sister, Catherine (Bentley) Moe.
Edna also leaves her loving husband of 61 years, Rev. James M. Fox, their two sons, Dr. Jerrald Fox and wife Deborah, Dr. Timothy Fox and wife Melba and grandchildren, Adam and Holly Fox, Kiely (Fox) and Scott Boone, Abbey Miller, Jordan Fox, Nathaniel Fox, Eli Miller, Andrew Fox and Noah Miller. Edna's first great grandchild is expected in November.
Edna's parents were pastors in Church of God congregations in Erie, Pennsylvania and Ashtabula, Ohio where she graduated from high school. She then attended the alma mater of her father, Anderson College (now Anderson University) where her parents had met in the School's beginning years. She worked the night shift at Guide Lamp to pay her tuition as she studied music performance and education. With an exceptional high soprano voice, she was a soloist in the Anderson College Choir and in musical and dramatic productions on campus.
At AC, she met James Fox, a transfer student form Denver, Colorado. Like her father, Jim answered God's call into the Christian ministry and Edna joined him in that calling as the quintessential pastor's wife. They married June 16, 1956. Four years later, with a three-year old and a new baby born between her last two college final exams, Edna and Jim graduated from AC and drove to Canon City, Colorado to begin a life of ministry that took them to churches in Kansas, Illinois, Louisiana and Indiana.
Sharing her love for Jesus and inviting others to allow Him to transform their lives was Edna's passion. Through school teaching, leading children's choirs, counseling teens at youth camps and leading Bible studies for young mothers, she and Jim led countless people to faith in Christ. With a self-effacing humor and quick wit, she filled every space she entered with laughter, joy and singing. In her last years of retirement, she and Jim helped to lead senior's ministries and women's Bible studies at Madison Park Church of God in Anderson where she endeared herself to so many people who sought her out each Sunday, even as Alzheimer's took away her ability to remember their names.
Service will be Tuesday, May 15, 2018 3 p.m. at Madison Park Church of God with Rev. Paul Strozier officiating, burial will follow in East Maplewood Cemetery.
Please join us for visitation two hours prior to the service at the church.
Memorial contributions may be given to Madison Park Church of God or Anderson University.
Post online condolences at www.rozelle-johnson.com.