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Julie Gibbons-Neff Cox of Easton died Tuesday, Oct. 26 after
an extended fight with Lung Cancer and associated complications. She was 59.
Born in Bryn Mawr, Pa., she was the daughter of
Phyllis Barba Gibbons-Neff and the late Grellet Gibbons-Neff. She grew up in Devon, Pa. and after
graduating from college, she moved to the Eastern Shore to work at Nautor, a Yacht Brokerage for Swan Yachts in Oxford, Md.
Later, she worked at the Gunston School in
Centreville as the administrative assistant to the headmaster. After that,
she worked at the Talbot County Historical Society in Easton. Most recently,
Julie worked at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels in a
number of different positions including the Collections Manager, Capital
Campaign Coordinator, and eventually Assistant to the President. She was a
critical part of the most successful Capital Campaign for the Museum. During
her years at the CBMM, as she did throughout her life, Julie was able to
develop a relationship with everyone she met that seemed to go beyond being
just a friend. She cherished the close relationship she had with each of her
friends and associates.
It is in Easton where Julie met her husband, David M. Cox. They were married
on Feb. 5, 1977.
Julie was an avid sailor virtually all her life. She became involved with
competitive sailing at the Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club in Beach Haven, N.J.
as a student and instructor and her passion for racing took off from there.
Racing Lasers, she traveled up and down the East Coast for various
competitions including the Tred Avon Yacht Club in
1973 when she first moved to the Eastern Shore.
After moving to Easton, she enjoyed racing with the PHRF fleet, including
many races all over the Chesapeake Bay, in Newport R.I., Block Island Race
Week, and in the Onion Patch Series in Bermuda. She frequently sailed in
Penguins with and against her husband and she also sailed on the log canoe
Island Lark where she trimmed the mainsail for several years.
Julie was a long-time member of the Tred Avon Yacht
Club where she helped organize and coordinate regattas and served on many
race committees. She was a member of the Harbor Club, the Corinthian Yacht
Club of Philadelphia and Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club in Beach Haven N.J.
In addition to sailing, Julie loved her gardens and was involved with the
Philadelphia Flower Show for a couple of years as a clerk to the Judges.
Anyone who knew Julie well also knew how much she loved her family, friends,
her dogs and cat, family ancestry, horseback riding, reading, and golf.
In addition to her husband, Julie is survived by her two children, Sewall C.
Cox of Annapolis and Jeffrey D. Cox and his wife Katherine B. Cox of Easton;
her Mother Phyllis Gibbons Neff, two sisters, Sewall Hornsey
of Chester Springs, Pa., Emily Wargo of Rosemont,
Pa. and her brother, Jeffrey Gibbons-Neff of Annapolis. She is also survived
by her grandson, Julian Richard Cox (Born October 17, 2010) of Easton,
several nieces, nephews, and cousins.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Julie's memory may be made to the Chesapeake
Bay Maritime Museum, P.O. Box 636, St. Michaels, Md. 21663 or the Country
School, 716 Goldsborough St., Easton, Md. 21601.
A private service for family at the Oxford Cemetery in Oxford on Nov. 27th
followed by a gathering for a Memorial Corson-Cox football game to be held at
Hampden.
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