‘Everyone’s grandma’

Betty Bea Cox still staying busy on WVU campus

By John Veasey

FAIRMONT — Most Marion County residents remember Betty Bea Cox from her acting days in Fairmont State’s summer theater.

Most of them aren’t aware that she’s worked at West Virginia University for years, or of the many of the other things she does.

“I’m afraid to sit down,” she said with a laugh. “I’m afraid that I won’t get up again.

“I completely believe in staying involved in whatever it takes.

“I don’t do as much volunteer work as I used to do. It seems the older I get, the less I seem to do. I probably should have retired a few years ago. But I just love being at the University. I’m thrilled being a part of it. I love the kids. I’m everybody’s grandmother down here,” she continued in a telephone interview from her office.

“And being around these kids has a lot to do with it.”

Betty Bea Cox, who claims to be “Everyone’s Grandma at WVU” has been selected as another Marion County “Everyday Hero.”

In plays 21 years

The general public probably knows Betty Bea best from her days with the Fairmont State Masquers Town and Gown Theatre. Or we should say “years.”

She spent 21 years in that organization — most all of them in lead roles — and then came back once after several years to repeat an earlier role in “The Music Man.”

Her favorite role?

“I would have to say ‘Hello Dolly’ was my favorite,” she said. “The role I had always dreamed of playing was Nellie in ‘South Pacific.’ That was my first lead role. But because it was my first, I wasn’t as relaxed as I became later on.”

Her first play at Fairmont State, in the colorful red-and-white tent, was “Sound of Music.”

“They had called me during the ‘Sound of Music’ rehearsals,” she said. “They needed a high soprano in the chorus for the high notes in ‘Climb Every Mountain.’

“The next year I went to tryouts, thinking I would be in the nurses’ chorus. And B.J. O’Dell (the director) informed me I would be Nellie.”

She labeled “Ben Franklin in Paris” as another play she really liked.

“After 21 years, I think they actually started running out of roles for me,” Betty Bea said. “I went back once. I did go back and repeat my role in ‘Music Man.’”

She said she was never relaxed during her acting career.

“I was always backstage going over the next scene in my mind. I had to constantly be in character and be going over the next scene,” she said.

“Those shows were my yearly outlet, and I thoroughly enjoyed them.”

No secrets

Is there anything the public doesn’t know about Betty Bea?

“I think my life is an open book,” she said. “I think people know me better than I know myself.”

Much of her volunteer work in recent years has been at WVU.

She’s now supervisor of the access area in the Student Recreation Center.

“I was at the Mountainlair. Now most of my contact is with students. That’s right down my alley. I had more contact with faculty and staff at the Mountainlair.

“This is up my alley,” she said. “Students who come in are health-minded. They are all good kids.”

Six children

She and her husband Bud have two daughters. Belinda Clyde lives in Cranberry, Pa., and has three sons while Janie Cooper resides in Innwood and has three daughters. She also has a step-son, Gary Cox.

“We have three grandchildren and one on the way,” she said.

She and Bud have been married for 53 years. She said he is doing well after undergoing knee replacement surgery in May.

“He still hangs around at the (Fairmont Field Club) golf course. He’s like me. He loves to be active, and he likes to be active with the golfers.”

Many accomplishments

Among Betty Bea’s accomplishments:

• Served on the planning committee for the West Virginia Storytelling Festival at Jacksons Mill from 1995 to 2004 and coordinated a “Children’s Program” for 3,000 elementary students each year from 1996 to 2004.

• Came to work in the WVU Mountainlair in 1991 and moved to the supervising of the access area of the building.

• Was unanimously voted into the WVU “Mountain” honorary by WVU student leaders.

• Was awarded “WVU Clerical Employee of the Year” in 1996.

• WVU Student Foundation named her “Most Loyal Staff Mountaineer” in 2004.

• The WVU Alumni Association named her the recipient of the Paul “Buck” Martin Award in 2007.

• Serves on the University Chapter of the WVU Alumni Association.

• Has been an avid camper most of her adult life. She has as been at Big Bear Lake Campground since 1962 and loves the beach (especially Myrtle Beach).

• Hosts a “tailgate party” at their motor home before every WVU football game for RPA (a group of Fairmont radiologists).

• Has sang at many weddings and special occasions.

• Meets monthly for dinner with a group (RECON Club) of ladies from both East and West Fairmont high schools who graduated around 1950.

• A very religious person, she attends Christian Missionary Alliance Church in Morgantown and the First Presbyterian Church in Fairmont.

E-mail John Veasey at jcveasey@timeswv.com.