WWII veteran received Ross High School diploma months before he died

He frequently told his sons that he regretted not receiving his high school diploma.

Last spring, 80 years after he entered the military, Foxx, then a Ross resident, was awarded a Ross High School diploma from Superintendent Chad Konkle and school board member Keith Klinefelter.

“That tickled him,” said one of his sons, David Foxx, 71. “Brought tears to his eyes.”

Foxx died Jan. 27 at Westover Retirement Community in Hamilton. He was 98.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 and served four years during World War II.

He was stationed at Buckingham Army Air Field in Fort Myers, Fla., and he told his girlfriend, Freda Forman, who attended Germantown High School, to take a train to Florida so they could get married.

“I couldn’t let that red-haired girl get away from me,” Foxx often remembered with a grin.

They got married on Jan. 13, 1945 and celebrated their 55th anniversary. She died in 2000 and was buried on her husband’s 76th birthday.

After the war, Foxx worked at Sorg Paper Co. in Middletown, and at Ford Motor Co. in Sharonville for 27 years as a millwright, retiring in 1986. He was a member of UAW Local No. 863.

Foxx loved gardening, spending time in the sun and exercising, according to his son David.

“He had six-pack abs before that was a phrase,” his son said.

His father remained positive even on gloomy days, his son said.

“Be thankful for every day God gives you,” he told his family and friends. “This is the day the Lord brought. Let’s go forth and rejoice.”

He also was a strict disciplinarian who was known to use a white leather belt on his sons when they misbehaved. Once when his oldest son Danny was late for dinner, he was told to walk downstairs to receive his punishment.

That, of course, made his younger brother happy.

Then David was told it was time for his punishment since he was laughing and making fun of his brother.

Foxx is survived by his two sons, Danny Lee (Barbara) Foxx and David E. (Debra) Foxx; four grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; and one brother, Granville.

Besides his wife, he was preceded in death by two brothers, Tommy and Wilbur; and four sisters, Geraldine, Sonja, Frances, and Mae.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday at Charles C. Young Funeral Home, 4032 Hamilton Cleves Road, Ross. Funeral will follow at 11 a.m.

Burial with military honors will follow in Grace Memorial Gardens in Warren County.