Kathleen S. Fox

Kathleen S. Fox, 92, of Strasburg, much loved wife, mother, grandmother and friend, peacefully entered her eternal heavenly home on Wednesday afternoon, August 13, 2014, after a period of declining health.

Kathleen was born May 18, 1922 as Ruth Kathleen Strahm in Pickerington, Ohio, to John and Bertha Heimberger Strahm. She graduated from Pickerington High School in 1940 and from Otterbein College in 1944. At Otterbein she met the love of her life, Howard Ernest Fox of Ashland, Ohio, and they were married March 7, 1943.

Kathleen is probably best known as an elementary schoolteacher, first in the Medina area, followed by Sugarcreek and finally at Strasburg, where she taught 3rd grade for over two decades until her retirement in 1984. She equipped her students with valuable life lessons that many of them still remember today, including growing orange trees, making and baking their own bread and making butter for that bread using an old-fashioned butter churn. She also cherished her role as a pastor's wife in the several churches that her husband, Rev. Howard Fox served, including Chippewa Lake, Sugarcreek UMC and Union Hill UMC, and finally Strasburg UMC until his retirement. She was very active in the United Methodist Women's movement in all of the churches served by Rev. Fox. She was also known to her family and friends as a kind, compassionate, loving and giving lady who shared many a loaf of fresh baked bread and a pecan pie with one and all.

Kathleen loved traveling before and after retirement, and enjoyed the summers that she and Howard spent at Brevort Lake in the upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the winters they spent together with new-found friends for many years in Florida. She dearly loved spending as much time as she could with her grandchildren, and especially her great grandchildren Katie, Emma, Caroline and Owen.

Kathleen is survived by her husband, Rev. Howard E. Fox, with whom she celebrated 71 years of marriage on March 7 of this year. She is survived by three children: Patricia (Roger) Dunn of Sugarcreek, Richard (Gerry) Fox of Strasburg, and John (Kathy) Fox of Limon, Colorado, and is also survived by three grandchildren: Shelly Dosch of Columbus, Ohio, Matthew (Sandy) Fox of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Kali Fox of Limon, Colorado. Four great grandchildren round out her immediate family: Katie and Emma Dosch of Columbus, and Caroline and Owen Fox of Myrtle Beach. Also surviving are numerous nephews and nieces and five step grandchildren and fifteen step great grandchildren. She will also be deeply missed by Holli Boylan of Strasburg, who considered Kathleen as her second mother.

Kathleen was preceded in death by her parents and her two sisters and their husbands: Wahnita (Robert) Strahm Airhart and Louise (Marvin) Strahm Eyman.

Though she will be deeply missed by those who knew and loved her, they also are able to rejoice that she is finally free from the grip of the Parkinson's Disease which greatly affected her health, and will be resting forever in the loving arms of her Savior, Jesus.

Funeral services celebrating Kathleen's life will be held Saturday, August 23, 2014 beginning at 11:00am in the Strasburg United Methodist Church with the Rev. Jason Humble and the Rev. Steven Court officiating. Interment will be in the Grandview Union Cemetery at Strasburg. Friends may call at the church on Friday from 4-7pm and Saturday from 10-11am. Those unable to attend or who may wish to express a fond memory of Kathleen may sign the online guestbook by visiting the "obituaries and flowers" link on the funeral home website at www.tolandherzig.com

Memorial contributions may be made to the Strasburg United Methodist Church, 206 2nd St. N.W., Strasburg, Ohio 44680 or Community Hospice of Tuscarawas County, 716 Commercial Ave. S.W., New Philadelphia, Ohio 44663.