
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994                   TAG: 9410060049
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: GALAX                                  LENGTH: Short

RITA COX, EX-LEADER OF VA. PTA, DIES

Rita Wilkinson Cox, 97, a key figure in the establishment of the Virginia Parent-Teacher Association in the 1930s, died Tuesday.

She was president of the Virginia PTA in 1932-33 when it was one of two such organizations in the state, the other being the larger Cooperative Education Association.

Both organizations sought funds from the General Assembly to support their work. But the legislature was reluctant to provide financial support to two organizations doing essentially the same work.

Cox worked with Cooperative Education Association President Francis P. Gaines to bring about a merger of the two organizations. The effort was successful, and Cox became vice president of the new Cooperative Education Association Branch of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, as it was called at first.

She served as its president from 1937-39 and went on to become vice president of the National Parents and Teachers Association for a three-year term.

The funeral will be Friday at 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church, with burial in Felts Memorial Cemetery. Vaughan-Guynn Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

by CNB