March 21, 1941 - May 13, 2023
Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend to all, Margaret “Peggi” Joan Bressette Cox, age 82, of Overland Park, Kansas, passed peacefully to heaven on Saturday, May 13, 2023, at Prairie Ridge Health and Rehabilitation Center in Overland Park.
Peggi was born March 21, 1941, to Robert Bressette and Lila Starner Bressette, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the youngest of seven children. The daughter of a Pentecostal preacher with four older brothers and two older sisters, she experienced a childhood filled both with unending adventures and a solid spiritual foundation. It was the perfect environment for her love of singing and her love for the Lord to flourish.
Not surprisingly, after graduating high school, Peggi attended Central Bible College, in Springfield, Missouri, where she enjoyed singing in The King’s Choraliers. A mutual friend at CBC introduced Peggi to a handsome young man named Richard Cox from Hutchinson, Kansas. It was love at first sight. A year-and-a-half later on November 3, 1963, Peggi and Richard began their lives as husband and wife and were blessed with nearly 60 years of marriage.
They started their family in Hutchinson. Peggi was both an encourager and a nurturer, an ideal candidate to be a stay-at-home mom to their two beautiful daughters, Melissa, the firstborn, and Camile, two years younger. The Coxes were a singing family, all of them involved in the ministry of music at their church, Hutchinson First Assembly of God. Peggi naturally trained both girls to sing, remarkably teaching them how to sing in harmony for specials at church as preschoolers.
Years later, the family moved to Great Bend, Kansas, and enrolled the girls in the Christian School at their home church, Great Bend First Assembly of God, where they enjoyed some of their best years. There Peggi taught many of the girls’ friends how to harmonize in preparation for the yearly state-wide competition among church youth known as Teen Talent (now Fine Arts).
When the Coxes moved to Overland Park, they became faithful members of Lenexa First Assembly of God Church, now City Center Church, where Peggi continued to sing in the choir, along with Richard and Melissa. She also enjoyed the Hospitality Ministry, where she served faithfully for many years welcoming guests each Sunday. That role was a perfect fit for her warm, caring personality. Peggi began working as a cashier at Kohl’s and continued there ten years. Faithful and conscientious in all her endeavors, she was a model employee who had a way of making every customer she encountered feel special.
She was a wonderful wife, mother, and grandmother, as well as a homemaker. An excellent cook, she always went the extra mile to make any occasion special. Besides music, she loved reading and enjoyed countless books by Christian authors.
It could truly be said of Peggi that she never met a stranger. She was extremely empathetic, feeling both the sorrows and joys of others. She could sincerely cry with someone facing heartache or whole heartedly rejoice with another whose life was overflowing with blessings. She looked for the best in others and always prayed for the best in their lives. She was never happier than when she was spending time with family or friends or meeting new friends.
Following are Peggi’s family members who have already welcomed her into heaven: her parents, Robert Bressette and Lila Starner Bressette; her brothers, Don Bressette, Paul Bressette, and Phil Bressette; and her sisters, Roberta Brown and Esther Uhler.
The following family members remain to carry on her beautiful legacy of loving God and loving others: her brother, David (Emily) Bressette of Newark, Ohio; her husband, Richard Cox; daughters Melissa Cox of Overland Park, Kansas, and Camile Cox Erickson of Des Moines, Iowa; three grandchildren: Shera Erickson, Olivia Erickson, and Logan Erickson; and many nieces and nephews.
Although our hearts grieve at her absence, we have the assurance that Peggi is having the time of her life singing in that great heavenly choir and that we will see her again!
A Celebration of Life Service will be scheduled at City Center Church at a later date.
