Mourning Dean Cox, A Selfless Politician
– By Ed Kociela –
As a newsman, I tried my best to keep a line drawn in the sand when it came to dealings with political folks.
It comes with the job. Get too chummy and you might soften when it comes time to write the difficult stories or, in my case, critical columns about their behavior.
There was one major exception, however, which is why I grieve with the rest of Washington County today over the passing of Dean Cox, who we lost to multiple myeloma, cancer that attacks the bone marrow.
Dean was wrapping up a 30-year career of public service. Most recently, he served as a Washington County Commissioner. Before that he served as the Washington County Administrator, emergency services director and chaired several committees, including the Washington County Local Emergency Planning Committee, the Southwest Regional Response Team, and the State 911 Committee. He was an integral part of the Washington County Republican Party, serving as chairman and administrator.
I can, without question, say that I never knew a political figure that I respected, admired, and trusted as much as I did Dean, a remarkable man and, perhaps, the last and greatest example of the selfless politician.
I can remember once when Dean, who was serving as the party chairman at the time, dropped by my office at The Spectrum. A couple of lightweight county commissioners were preparing to comment on a federal project to reopen the Nevada Test Site to the Divine Strake program to test bunker buster bombs. The county was up in arms over the proposal, but a few of the commissioners were drafting a statement that was ludicrous, arrogant, and uninformed. As Dean saw it, their rough draft statement was offensive to many party members, but he was also deeply concerned about what could happen to his beloved Washington County if all that radioactive debris that had settled into the Earth’s crust at the test site was suddenly heaved back into the atmosphere.
Dean took a seat next to me, shook his head and said, “I know you want to talk to those guys, but things are pretty heated right now and they need to understand a few things so please give me a little time to ‘educate’ them. This is too important for them to make uninformed statements.”
I know Dean scolded them for their ignorant behavior, but I also know that Dean also gave them a quick lesson on the dangers of reopening the Nevada Test Site for bunker buster bomb tests, which county residents were vehemently opposed to.
A little more than an hour after he left, the commission released a statement that fell in line with propriety and common sense. It was immediately backed up with a phone call I received from then-Gov. Jon Huntsman, who promised to not only sign a petition to prevent the testing, but promised to hand-deliver the petition to Washington, D.C.
There was another time when there was a bit of a kerfuffle when a rogue group of loosely organized Republicans made it their mission to make life miserable for any and all who they believed did not carry the far right torch. They made life a living hell for anybody who drifted into even the barely moderate space of the Republican Party with particularly vicious attacks on a number of us who represented a more liberal position.
Dean quietly showed up at my desk again and apologized, explaining that the views of this rogue group did not reflect those of the party he was picked to lead and hoped I understood that. He fully well understood that I had some major ideological differences with the GOP, but emphasized how that is how it is supposed to be, that without opposing views, nothing of worth could be accomplished.
Then there were the times – not enough of them – when he would just be in the neighborhood and drop by for a quick visit.
Looking back wistfully, I treasure those moments.
Dean, my friend, you are dearly missed.
I never got to go flying with you, but you shared a lot of photos you took from the pilot’s seat of that airplane you loved to take into the sky with me and our readers.
I enjoyed bumping into you here and there, particularly one time when we were both leaving a seriously beautiful evening of Mozart performed at the college.
I was thrilled when you were elected to the commission in 2016 and reelected in 2020, not only for you but the people of Washington County. The county was well-served with you on that board. Nobody could match your decency, your compassion for your fellow woman and man, your need to do the right thing for the right reasons. I don’t think you ever took the easy way out. You truly worked to serve all of Washington County and we are all better for that.
You had a rather boyish charm, had a sort of giggle on your face much of the time with undeniable warmth and sincerity in your voice that was as true as the day is long. Unlike so many who are seated as our elected officials, you did not demand respect, you earned it.
You were decisive, but you knew how to listen.
There was a definite gentleness in your step, but still, you were strong.
But, in that strength, there was also a deep sense of fairness, kindness, compassion.
You were one of a kind.
You once told me that the feeble words I would string together made you think. Well, the words you shared with me made me think, too.
And, right now, I am thinking I lost a treasured friend.
One of my favorite things was, most recently, to go to his Facebook page and browse the photographs from his beloved place at Kolob.
It reminded me that what we saw in Dean was real, that he had a real connection to Washington County and its creatures great and small, that he had an eye for beauty, that he was a storyteller in his own humble way, that he had an appreciation for the life that surrounded him from his beloved family to the many people who he never knew but benefited from his devotion to the region.
He made our world a better place and I was lucky to know him.
Rest easy, my friend.
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