Johnny saddled up for blue skies yonder and rode on to be in the Heavenly Kingdom on September 2, 2024. She was the last of the original cowgirls from Van Buren County. She was the child of two very devoted parents Pete and Vera Cox. Johnny was born November 10, 1928, in Keosauqua, Iowa. She grew up in the large white house with the beautiful blue roof on top of the hill in Keo across from Keosauqua High School. She rode horses and had a special horse. In high school she participated in various activities and band. She was a percussionist. She was Vice President of her school class. In the latter part of high school there was a work program associated with the local bank that Johnny participated in. After graduating high school in 1946, she attended business classes, then after being involved with the bank program, she transitioned to working full time at the bank. Because of her bank work she knew everyone in town, and everybody knew Johnny! During her bank career she was sometimes sent to other towns with similar banks to help. As a vibrant member of the community, Johnny participated in community parades, helped with organizing parades, she also helped with Keosauqua High School alumni banquets over the years. She always looked forward to seeing classmates. As an only child, she gained a brother and sister named Bob and Marilyn. Pete and Vera helped when they visited, often helping and taking care of Bob and Marilyn who had tragically lost their mother Arlene. Marilyn and Johnny were close in age and their bond as sisters was forever close, spending every family holiday together well into their golden years. As teenagers they liked drinking Coca-Cola, having malts, and going to the movies with friends in Keosauqua.
Gloria Breckenridge when she was a child, was watched by Pete, Vera and Johnny. She spent most weekends with them. Johnny always referred to her as her kid sister. It was one of Johnny’s delights to be involved with Marilyn’s children, Bob, Jeanne and Annie. Johnny enjoyed her nephew and nieces and enjoyed going on picnics with them, mushroom hunting, and taking them to unique places throughout Van Buren County. She enjoyed bringing them into the vault at the bank and explaining the processes of how everything worked at the bank. She would take a walk with them to Graham’s Department store to see Vera where she worked. Due to Johnny’s somewhat competitive nature, she enjoyed teaching strategy to Bob, Jeanne, and Annie. Specifically strategizing on how to find the most Easter eggs in the Keosauqua Easter egg hunt, and how to find the most nickels in the “nickel sawdust search” on July 4 th . If you took the song from the Sound of Music that states these words, “These are a few of my favorite things,” these following items would make Johnny’s list of favorite things: Ice tea, John Wayne movies, eating, being outdoors, autumn, cars, driving cars, country western music, western genre movies, card club, bowling, maidrites, raking leaves, helping others, writing poems, painting, gardening, reading the newspaper, watching sports, crashing other family picnics, traveling to Tucson, and just being a great gal.
In addition to her interests, she liked food. She could tell you where to get the best pizza, where to eat catfish, where the best buffet was, and who had the best cherry pie ala mode. Cooking wasn’t really her thing, although she had the “cheese ball” thing down and regularly brought that to family gatherings. But if you showed up to visit her around dinner time, (which was early), there were 3 words she would express: “Let’s Go Out.”
She liked telling funny stories, and she liked hearing a funny story!
Slightly before Johnny retired from working at the bank for 40 years, she was having a difficult year, as she was busy at work and taking care of Vera. She had her niece Annie come stay with her one summer to help her with everything. They forever bonded sharing some similar interests, hobbies, sense of humor, and their own made-up language. Johnny was forever grateful for Annie’s help and companionship that summer.
A bench with Johnny’s name on it resides in a park in Keosauqua, next to the Des Moines River. Johnny loved the outdoors and nature. The view from the bench is one she liked and hopes others take time to enjoy the view from the bench. One of Johnny’s quotes she told people as a way to inspire them was a quote about courage. It was one she heard in a John Wayn movie. The quote was: “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.”
Johnny was preceded in death by her mother and father, Pete and Vera Cox, her mother’s sisters, Aunt Florence (Otto), and Aunt Veda, brother Bob Satterthwaite, sister Marilyn Manson (Richard), niece Jeanne Manson, dear traveling companion friends Mable and Florence, her pet dogs Charlie Brown, Patches, and Suzy.
She is survived by nephew Robert “Bob” Manson, his friend Michelle of Cedar Rapids, niece Ann “Annie” (Manson) Arbuckle, Annie’s husband Carl Arbuckle, and great niece Sarah Arbuckle, and great nephew Rob Arbuckle of Ames, Iowa. Dear friends Gloria and Dick
Breckenridge, Wendy and Jerry Owens, and many other wonderful friends.
