Going out with your boots on…Calamity Jane.
Wearing a 10-gallon hat and a tin star.
Rubbing elbows with everyone from Governors to United States Senators and Representatives.
Doing what a man’s got to do…John Wayne.
By Marilyn Miller
C.C. “Cat” Cox was who you would call a man’s man. Every morning, he woke up and put his boots on. For nearly 60 years, add to that a uniform, a badge, and a gun. And lastly, he put on his white hat. Protecting the peace and helping people made him feel complete. I expect that he felt that way when he was 15 years old…I know he felt that way when he was 96.
But C.C. Cox, who died on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at the age of 96, always had more than one job. Taking care of his church and worshipping his God was Job 1, not “Job,” as in the guy in the Holy Bible, but Job as in owning something or being responsible for and to something. Job 2 was his family. He and his late wife, Loriece Young Cox, were married for 73 years and had two daughters, Naomi Cox Coyle and Ouida Cox Garner.
His other jobs, and there were many, started out with the management of a pool and domino hall when he was just 16-years-old. That’s probably where he learned that laying down the law and living by laws (rules) made for a peaceful workday. That’s also how he earned money to purchase a Cities Service Station in Cotton Valley by the time he was just 19. He operated it for a decade, during which time he began driving a bus for the Webster Parish School System, a job he held for 47 years.
In 1958, Cat was sworn in as chief of police of Cotton Valley, replacing his uncle who was injured in a highway wreck. In an interview in 2023, he described how it happened. “Next thing I know, the mayor and council were there dangling a badge and gun in my face, saying they needed a police chief. I asked why they were talking to me, and they said I was going to be the new chief. I just walked into City Hall, and they told me to raise my right hand. And I did. I put that gun on, and I wore it for the next 26 years.”
Adding years to his public service record, Cat raised his hand to be sworn onto the Webster Parish Police Jury, the Cotton Valley Board of Aldermen and as Cotton Valley Mayor.
But through it all, Cat loved and remained a part of law enforcement. He was a sworn member of law enforcement for six different sheriffs. Even when he went to live at The Columns of Germantown, he was known as “The Sheriff.” If he left his apartment, he had his white hat on. And many, many of his friends and admirers got to wear his spare hat in picture after picture.
Yes, “Sheriff” Cox loved to hob-knob and have his photo struck. Governors Edwin Edwards and Kathleen Blanco shared picture space on his apartment walls with batches of law enforcement officers. Webster Parish Sheriff Jason Parker, Clerk of Court Holli Vining, and Tax Assessor Denise Edwards were favorites during his final years. His dear friend, Col. Carl Thompson, spent nearly every Sunday with the “Sheriff” and shared the picture walls. His Mason associates were another favorite. (See a photo wall below)
There’s an old cowboy quote that says, “No matter how you feel…Get up. Look up. Show up. Never give up.” Truth be told, that’s what C.C. “Cat” Cox did for the citizens of Webster Parish for nearly 96 years.
And my educated guess says that he enjoyed every minute of it.
