Clarice Cox

Clarice Leora Wruck Cox, beloved wife, mother and grandmother peacefully died in her sleep in the afternoon of January 23rd, 2026, at the Los Alamos Medical Center in Los Alamos, New Mexico. She was 95.

A public memorial celebration of life will be held at the Unitarian Church at 1:00 pm on Friday, April 24, 2026.

Clarice was born on August 6th, 1930, in Norwalk Wisconsin to Vernon Carl Wruck and Wilmyna Gajewski. She was the third of their four children.

She was preceded in death by her younger sister, Gloria, her older brothers Quayne and Clinton, and her long-time companion and husband, Terry Langham.

Clarice is survived by her two sons, Charles Arthur Cox and Edward Jonathan Cox and their families: Charles’ wife Anna Ratner, son Bryan and daughter Maya; Edward’s wife, Phil Tyler-Cox and daughter Brooke Tyler. She is also survived by Terry Langham’s children, Sean Langham and Ian Langham and their families.

Born in a small town during the Great Depression, Clarice and her siblings grew up in a modest home where their mother stayed at home to raise the children, and their father and uncle ran a gasoline and service station. When Clarice was nine years old, her mother died of intestinal cancer. This tragic event spurred Clarice and her siblings to take on domestic responsibilities.

As she attended the local schools, Clarice became a star student, graduating valedictorian of her high school.

Eager to leave the small town of Norwalk, Clarice attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison where she studied Mathematics, earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in the subject. Tragedy struck again with the passing of Clarice's father due to a heart attack.

Thriving in an academic environment of Mathematics and Physics, Clarice became intrigued with the Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. In 1955, she made the journey to the Southwest to start a new life.

Shortly after arriving in Los Alamos, Clarice made new friends, who, like her, were new to the town. Among these friends was Arthur Nelson Cox, an astrophysicist who had relocated after completing his PhD. They became a couple, and by 1957 they married, and traveled together extensively. By 1958, Clarice and Arthur made a trip completely around the world visiting destinations in the Far East, the Middle East and Europe.

In April of 1960, Clarice and Arthur had their first-born son, Charles Arthur Cox. A year and a half later came the second son, Edward Jonathan Cox. Clarice spent her time working at the Laboratory and spending other times being a wife and mother at home.

A significant change occurred in 1973 when Arthur wanted to get divorced. Not long after the divorce, she met up with Terry Langham, an acquaintance from the past who was also newly divorced. They became a couple for over 40 years. It wasn’t until January 2017 that they became married.

Clarice always had a thirst for learning, solving puzzles, dancing, and singing. She loved taking walks in her neighborhood of the Western Area of Los Alamos. She loved the food, art and culture of the Southwest.

With her remains to be interred next to Terry's in the United Church's columbarium, she will forever be alongside her beloved husband in her beloved hometown.