Glenys Jean Wilcox, “Nana”, died on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. She was 75 years old. Glenys died peacefully in her sleep at her Beaumont, Texas home, were her and her husband Byron P. Wilcox resided.
Born Glenys Jean Morgan in Kettering, England to parents Dave and Rose Morgan, she spent her childhood with warm memories shared with younger siblings. She often recalled stories of her youth. Like for years her grandmother would take a tot of medicine daily and then play the horses. One day she accompanied her grandmother on an errand to the nearby pub and recognized the “medicine bottle” on the bar. Then she said to her grandmother “You have been having Booth’s Gin as your medicine all these years!” Till her passing Glen enjoyed her tot of medicine, a scotch on the rocks, in the evenings. Stories of family history influence were a source of happiness and laughter at family parties. She was a lady who could tell a funny story and always had people around eager to listen.
She worked in England at a shoe factory and as an usher at a movie theater. She loved to dance and went frequently to the U.S.O. dances in her home town. There Glenys met Byron and fell in love. Later they rendezvoused in France to spend a romantic holiday together. From that time on they wrote letters to each other until they finally met in Maine and then married at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine on October 18, 1960. Glen married at the age of 27 to United States Air Force M.P. Master Sergeant, Byron, her true love; she would leave her beloved England and her close family in Kettering, England to travel, then to settle in the United States. While living on the Air Force base in Limestone, Maine, Byron and her had tough times, money was tight. Sticking to their moral rule to always pay your debts and never use credit they would pay their bills first, then groceries and finally having just enough money to buy one hamburger and sharing it between the two of them and celebrated it all.
Early in their marriage she saved all her money she made by babysitting to buy their first new car. She paid cash for her 1963 Volkswagon, with all the extras, for full price of $1,807. They moved to Spain where she continued looking after children.
Then moving to Montana they started a family, first welcoming Ian Christopher on November 21, 1966 and then son Sean Andrew on June 19, 1968. There she made a home, loving to cook and sew. She was a natural and excelled, sewing all the children’s clothes and cooking from scratch. She was famous for her delicious pastries, meat pies, and her homemade spaghetti, a recipe acquired from an Italian lady who she befriended in Maine. Glen was a family person who never missed weekly calls to England.
Finally settling in Beaumont, she and her family had wonderful times and hard times, they mourned the death of her eldest son Ian, but were thrilled to welcome back safely Sean from the first Gulf War.
It was her love for all children from all backgrounds that led her to work until she retired from the B.I.S.D. Headstart program, where she enjoyed working and had many friends and inspired lives. She had received a teaching certificate, taking night courses for Early Childhood Development, having assisted at Carver, Dunbar and Southerland for a total of twenty years of service to children. She also volunteered for her church Sunday school and the nursery. Her greatest joy was welcoming her grandchild and “sunshine”, Zoe, into her life.
She is survived by her husband, Byron P. Wilcox; son, Sean A. Wilcox and his wife Maria; granddaughter, Zoe Asral Wilcox; siblings, Terry Morgan and his wife Barbara, Hazel Dalziel and her husband Ian, Hilary Rogers, Terry and Patty Wilcox, Leon and Vickey Wilcox, Ellie Morgan, Ellen Ann and Trey Wilcox; and all the nieces and nephews in the United States and England; friends, Joyce Sheffield, Jean Ward, June Jessup, Diane and Lynn Legato; and all the friends from the British Wives Club and B.I.S.D.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Dave and Rose Morgan; son, Ian Wilcox; in-laws, Byron P. and Sarah R. Wilcox, Maxine Williamson; brother-in-law, Mick Rogers; friends, Pauline Bolluck and Willie Eglin.
Funeral Services will be 2:00 p.m. Sunday, January 25, 2009 at Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin, Beaumont, with burial to follow at Magnolia Cemetery. A gathering of her family and friends will be Saturday, January 24, 2009 from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at the mortuary.
Her family would like to thank all of the family and friends for all your blessed prayers and all your help. Special thanks to Reverend Byron Crocker and the Brammer, Johnson and Shaffers.
In lieu of flowers, you may contribute to a children’s charity of your choice in Glenys’ name.
Glenys found joy in the smallest things, truly appreciating the world God has made and all his children. That is why we mourn for the world’s loss.
