NSU graduate marks 108th birthday

On Jan. 31, a Northeastern State University alumna celebrated her birthday.

Perhaps several women holding degrees from Northeastern observe their birthdays on the last day of January, but that of Rubye Catherine Gawf Cox was special. It was her 108th.

She may be Northeasterns oldest living graduate, said her daughter Betty Gilbert. When Mother was born, Oklahoma wasn't yet a state.

Because Cox suffers from dementia, Gilbert agreed to relate what she had heard from her mother about her life and the treasured days of attending Northeastern in the 1920s.

My grandfather was a farmer and cattleman, active in politics, and thought it a waste of time for a girl to go to college, Gilbert said. He refused to help her. But he was grinning with pride for her when she graduated.

Coxs mother quietly encouraged her to go to Northeastern and assisted with expenses by selling eggs. Cox lived on Goingsnake St., which she recalled as a popular residence for students with limited finances. Despite her mothers help, Cox eventually found herself without money and considered dropping out.

A professor got my mother a job in the library, Gilbert said. She and another student helped students find the materials they needed, and the two of them closed the library at night. She worked there until she graduated.

She found additional employment when a professor of French hired Cox as her assistant. The money she earned permitted her to purchase room and board from a couple living on the edge of campus and "eat good food she couldn't afford to buy.

She also specifically mentioned a favorite activity of hers in the summertime, Gilbert said. She loved to attend outdoor Chautauqua lectures on campus.

Cox was a long-time resident of Muskogee. In March 2002 she moved to Bristol, R.I., to be near her daughters family. Gilbert said Cox was still alert and active but needed assistance shopping, cooking meals and tending to her affairs.

When mother came to live with us, we traveled often, Gilbert said. We took her back to Oklahoma to see family and also visited Florida and Georgia.

When Gilberts husband suffered a relapse of cancer in 2006, Cox was also dealing with an illness and entered the Silver Creek nursing facility a few blocks from the Gilbert home. After Gilberts husband passed away in 2008, she said her mothers dementia worsened.

She can no longer walk, or talk on the phone, Gilbert said. Some days her confusion is severe and she doesn't speak, though she usually understands what I am saying. Other days she is alert, laughing and making the funny remarks everyone knows her for.

Cox, who has two sisters ages 102 and 99, is in excellent physical condition for her age.

She has strong, perfect vital signs and takes no medication, Gilbert said.

Cox majored in English and minored in French at NSU. She still possesses her life certificate from Northeastern State Teachers College, awarded July 24, 1925. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Ottawa County and met her husband Van Brent Cox while attending church in Miami, Okla. They married in 1929.

She hoped to return to Northeastern to pursue her masters degree, but Gilbert was born in 1931, her brother in 1933 and the Great Depression bore down in full force. She reared her children through the difficult times.

Throughout the good and hard times, Cox never lost her desire to learn.

Mother always loved books and read widely, Gilbert said. "Today it is difficult for her to read for long periods, but she enjoys holding the books that I keep at her bedside and her well-marked Bible. The newspaper is delivered to her every day and she peruses the headlines."