Steamboat Pilot & Today

Christie Fox is trying to bring the South Routt community together, but she doesn't have to work too hard. Re-sidents from Yampa, Phipps-burg and Oak Creek have been rallying together to help their friend Bill Cox.

Cox is pastor of First Baptist Church of Yampa, a volunteer firefighter, Boy Scout leader, emergency medical technician and sole provider for a family of six. He recently suffered a heart attack and had triple-bypass surgery. Because he doesn't have health insurance, Cox will have to pay his medical bills, which are mounting as he recovers at St. Luke's Presbyterian Hospital in Denver.

His son, Jared Cox, said he is doing better now, and doctors are working to balance his blood pressure. He also said the heart attack was very unexpected because his father is so active.

"He works three jobs, so he doesn't have time to sit and be lazy," he said.

Cox's friends Fox and Daneen Teters are working hard to help alleviate some of Cox's medical bills, which Fox said are expected to exceed $100,000. The two are planning to hold a benefit car wash May 3 and 4 in Yampa and Oak Creek.

The car wash in Yampa will be at Teters' home at 136 Main St. and Oak Creek's will be at Decker Park. They will begin at 10 a.m. and tentatively run until 3 p.m. in both locations. But Fox said she hopes people keep coming in, and the car wash continues all day.

The cost will be $5 for cars and $10 for trucks. The Oak Creek car wash will also have a hot dog and beverage stand and will offer horse-drawn carriage rides downtown while vehicles are being cleaned.

Fox also has planned to have a benefit dinner and auction for Cox at the end of May. On top of that, she and other friends have set up a bank account in Cox's name at First National Bank of the Rockies in Oak Creek to collect donations for his medical bills.

"I have a lot of respect for him," Fox said. "He gives so much back to the community. He would bend over backwards for anybody. He and his family are all very giving and generous people."

Teters has been Cox's neighbor for more than six years and has also developed a lot of respect for him.

"If he wore short sleeves, his wings would fall out," Teters said. "He's a wonderful man. There's not a person in this community he hasn't touched somehow."

For more information or to make a donation, call Christie Fox at 846-0626 or Daneen Teters at 638-4553.

-- To reach Nick Foster call 871-4204

or e-mail nfoster@steamboatpilot.com