Joseph R. "Joe" Fox

Joseph Roscoe Fox, age 86, was called home on July 4, 2026.

He is survived by his wife Kathleen F. Fox, his two children, Eric K. Fox and Tara F. Cicchelli, and his grandchildren Reese Cicchelli, Nathan Cicchelli, and Bailey Fox. He is also survived by his sister Dorothy Popp, sister Carolyn Johnson, and brother Edwin. He was predeceased by his parents, Walter and Ruth Fox, brother Kent, sister Marjorie, sister Marion, brother Jim, and brother Tom.

At the time of his death, Joe was a member of Long Hollow Baptist Church and a professing Christian. Joe was an educator, coach and athlete. He obtained his bachelor's degree from the Iowa State Teacher’s College, a master’s degree in education from the Colorado St. College, and a master’s degree in educational administration from U.C. Irvine. He was president of the Orange County (CA) Wrestling Officials Association. He was an instructor and teacher mentor at Vanguard University. In 2003 he was honored by Osage H.S. as a distinguished alumnus alongside a former governor of Nebraska. His favorite motto was “Faith, Family, and Friends.”

Joe was born in Osage, Iowa on May 6, 1940, and lived on the family farm. At age 10, Joe moved with his family to a house in Osage a couple of blocks from their local church which was central to their family and community life. 

Joe and his brothers continued to help with farm work after school and on Saturdays. Joe was always an early riser, and the school recruited him to set up the morning crosswalk. He was also a paperboy and an altar boy.

In high school, Joe was an athlete playing football (quarterback), baseball (shortstop), and wrestling at 112 lbs. In wrestling, his senior year, he placed 2nd in the State of Iowa for his weight class. He was also Homecoming King in his senior year. He was given a wrestling scholarship to the University of Nebraska but transferred to Iowa State Teacher’s College. He was a teacher for 3 years in Kenosha, WI, then took a job in Newport Beach, CA in 1965.

Joe met his future wife Kathy (from west Los Angeles, Westwood) in Newport on Balboa Island where they were apartment neighbors. They married in 1969 in Southern CA. They settled in El Torro, CA and moved to Newport Beach in 1973; Eric was 3 years old, Tara 3 weeks old.

After moving back to Newport, Joe and Kathy became active in neighborhood bible studies and a local church. Joe was known for greeting his neighbors, his great smile, and early morning runs. Joe was a successful high school wrestling coach; one of his wrestlers was a CIF champion and became head wrestling coach at Stanford University.

In the 1980’s he left Newport Harbor H.S. to become assistant principal of the alternative Back Bay H.S. Joe also began running marathons.

In the 1990’s Joe became Principal of Middle College H.S. at Orange Coast College. Joe retired in 2002 which allowed him to bike almost every day with his coffee group. Joe and Kathy continued to live in the same home until 2022, and moved to Hendersonville, TN in the fall that year to live near his son Eric’s family.

Employees at Joe’s favorite Hendersonville restaurant, Raising Cane’s, came to love Joe, as did the hearing aid staff at Costco and his neighbors. Joe loved the deer and natural green beauty of Hendersonville and often commented that it reminded him of driving as a boy with his family in the countryside and how his dad would talk and marvel about the beauty of God’s creation.

Join us in celebrating Joe’s beautiful life at Hendersonville Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home on Saturday, August 1, with visitation starting at 2pm and service at 4pm.