Jeanne Fox, ex-owner of Bainbridge fabric shop
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Jeanne M. Fox spoke dog Latin, a language she invented with former Secretary of State Ralph Munro. This, of course, was not the only accomplishment in her long life or even a major accomplishment.
But it was typical of Mrs. Fox's sense of humor that she would create this funny language known only by her and Munro, a neighbor on Bainbridge Island.
"He called her Jealaphine, and she called him Ralaphalph, and that's as far as I understood," said her daughter Becky Fox Marshall.
Mrs. Fox died Saturday (April 7) at her Bainbridge home after a long struggle with liver disease. She was 73.
An affable woman well-known among the "old Bainbridge" crowd, Mrs. Fox and her mother-in-law, Esther Fox, bought Esther's Fabric Store in Winslow in 1969. Mrs. Fox helped manage the store and taught sewing classes until 1986, when the two sold the shop.
It was emblematic of Mrs. Fox's humorous nature, Marshall said, that when someone was surreptitiously sliding bolts from the rolls of fabric at the store and making off with them, Mrs. Fox nicknamed the unknown culprit the "Bolt Bandit."
When the thief was discovered and found to be a kleptomaniac, Marshall said, Mrs. Fox was characteristically compassionate. She declined to press charges.
Her friendly nature made her popular on the island, especially in the old days, her daughter said, "before there were 20,000 people here."
"She had her finger on the pulse of Winslow," Marshall said. "Everybody came into the shop. She knew everything that was going on."
Born in Minnesota and raised for a short time on the banks of the Mississippi, where she and her sister attended a one-room schoolhouse, Mrs. Fox moved to Seattle with her family in 1938.
She graduated from Lincoln High School and worked as a sales clerk for The Bon Marchè in downtown Seattle and then as a service representative for Seattle Telephone in Seattle, Bremerton and Bainbridge.
In 1943, she met her future husband, Dale Fox. They married in 1948 and moved to a cottage on Bainbridge Island. This past Tuesday would have been their 53rd wedding anniversary.
In 1972, after their two daughters were born, the Foxes built a house on the beach directly across from their original cottage.
Later, the two also bought a house in Arizona, where more recently they wintered and Mrs. Fox taught rug-making classes. Until her illness stopped her, Mrs. Fox created and sold "hook rugs" made from yarn, her daughter said.
"She remained crafty right up until the end."
Mrs. Fox's survivors include her husband; mother-in-law; another daughter, Penny Lamping; sisters, Joyce Stanton of Shelton, Mason County, and Janice Shimming of Grants Pass, Ore.; brother, Bruce Trombley of Sequim; and four grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow at Eagle Harbor Congregational Church on Bainbridge.
Remembrances may be made to Children's Hospital Foundation, CH-23, P.O. Box 5371, Seattle, WA 98105-0371, or Hospice of Kitsap County, P.O. Box 3416, Silverdale, WA 98383.
Eli Sanders can be reached at 206-748-5815 or esanders@seattletimes.com.