Carldine Butcher Rox
Carldine Butcher Rox, 84, passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 14, 2020, almost a year to the day after her beloved husband Jim passed.
The daughter of Carl and Geraldine Butcher, she was born and raised in La Follette, Tn. She graduated from La Follette High School in 1954. A tall girl who eventually reached 5’10”, she excelled at basketball for the La Follette Owls. She attended Tennessee Tech from 1954 to 1958. She graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1973. However, she always told people that Tech was her school, and it was.
Her first teaching job was at East Ridge High School. She was the first women’s basketball and volleyball coach there, coaching both high school and junior high, and she helped pick the school colors and team name. She left teaching upon the birth of her son Jimmy in 1960 and became a full-time homemaker. In 1967 she began what would be a 34-year career at Orange Grove Center, starting at the original campus on Main Street. She held many positions at the school, from classroom teacher to administrator. She truly put her heart into Orange Grove and the children it serves.
She was married to James Davis Rox for over 60 years, and they had one son, James Jr. She was a devoted wife, mother, and Nana. Although she took her husband’s church when she married and was a devoted Episcopalian, spiritually she remained close to her Baptist roots. She enjoyed her son’s friends into their teens and twenties and was a wise advisor to many. She loved people, and she let you know it. Her great enjoyments in life were first and foremost her grandchildren and all their activities, her many dogs through the years, cooking, sewing, trips to the beach, keeping up with friends and neighbors, going to the Y and volunteering at church. She particularly enjoyed annoying her son and staying in his business, which he is going to miss terribly. She was a great soul, and the best mother a son could ever have.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband James Davis Rox; sister Irene McCullough; and brothers Jack Butcher and Earl May.
She is survived by her son, James Davis Rox, Jr., and his wife, Ann Crisman Rox; granddaughters Julia (Cory) Davis Rox Goad and Margaret Frances Rox; aunt Armistine Shepherd of Knoxville; nieces and nephews; and close friends Sue Myers and Nancy Meyers.
Memorial donations may be made to Orange Grove Center, 615 Derby Street, Chattanooga, Tn., 37404.
A funeral service and burial will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Wednesday, Nov. 25, at 2 p.m., and is limited to family.
A visitation open to all will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 24, from 6-8 p.m. at Chattanooga Funeral Home, North, 5401 Highway 153, Hixson Tn.
The funeral home requests that masks be worn, and social distancing observed.
Please share your thoughts and memories at www.chattanooganorthchapel.com.