Community builder Frances Cox chosen grand marshal

MATTAWA - Frances Cox, who came to Mattawa in 1974 and became one of its builders, will be the grand marshal for the Mattawa Community Days Parade this Saturday, Aug. 27

The parade will form at the high school parking lot at 10 a.m. It will head southward on Boundary at 11 a.m. and turn toward the river on Government Way, ending at Hund Memorial Park.

Cox and her husband Vern, who died in July of 2010, were potato farmers in Warden and cattle ranchers in Okanogan before moving to Mattawa. The only businesses in town when they arrived were the Blume Grocery Store/Post Office and McSweeney Hardware.

"Community Days was the big event of the year," Cox said.

Their first experience with building was a 120-unit mobile home park on the Columbia River at Grand Coulee in 1971 when the moved away from Warden temporarily.

The Coxes moved back to the Warden area in 1973 and didn't do much for year. Then an opportunity to own and farm two circles of potatoes six miles east of Mattawa on road 25 came up in 1974.

"We took it out of sagebrush," the 85-year-old Cox said.

The Coxes went back to farming, mostly potatoes, joined by two of their children. They purchased River View Trailer Park and 10 additional acres for development.

In 1978, Vern bought the McSweeney Hardware Store and built a Texaco gas station, giving Frances something to do in her spare time.

Two years later, Frances started a 29-year career in real estate sales with Mattas Real Estate. She did not retire until she was 83.

In 1990, the Coxes became involved in the building of Mattawa. They purchased houses that were no longer needed at Midway, brought them across the Columbia River at Vernita Bridge and placed them on 32 lots near the Riverview Trailer Park.

"There weren't many houses in Mattawa at the time," Cox said. "They sold pretty fast."

That development was known as Vern Avenue.

The last major project for the Coxes was Cox's Landing on U Road off of Road 26, next to Desert Aire. They acquired 66 acres, planted 20 acres to orchard and developed the rest into 32 one- and two-acre parcels. They all sold.

Cox lives at Cox's Landing. So do her daughters Linda Watkins and Cindy Drollinger.