Rachel May Stafford Cox, age 87 of Milan, departed from this life 19 July 2024 to be in the eternal presence of her Lord and Savior Jesus. She was born to the late Ether and Eva Stafford, 14 September 1936 and graduated from Milan High School in 1954. She received a diploma in

nursing from Baptist School of Nursing in 1957, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Union University in 1984. She married the late Jere Robinson Cox in 1957, settling in Milan, TN.

Rachel began her career as a nurse at Milan hospital, eventually working her way to be the Director of Nursing. Upon her retirement, she continued to work in hospitals and facilities located in Gibson County.

First Baptist Church was very important to Rachel and was her church home her entire life (she is on the cradle roll). She was very active up until her last illness, where she taught Sunday School and sang in the choir for many years.

After retirement, Rachel became involved in mission trips. She and her best friend, Phyllis Escue, traveled the world doing both medical and mission trips. Trips to Costa Rica, Colombia, Indonesia were interspersed between trips to Romania, which was her favorite place to go. She went to Romania several times, and even got her husband, Jere, to accompany her on one trip.

One of the things she was most passionate about was Operation Christmas Child. She and Jere worked diligently for many years collecting items to put in boxes, packing boxes, and collecting the boxes to ship. They made the trip to Boone, NC many times in the Christmas season to spend a week packing the boxes there for children to get at Christmas. Operation Christmas Child is where the first box she packed was sent and was given to a little girl named Marta. Rachel eventually got to go to Romania on a mission trip and met Marta and her family. This led to a lifelong friendship that remained until her death.

Rachel was married to Jere Cox for 63 years. He preceded her in death by 2 years. She is survived by her daughter, Sandra Cox, her son, Brent (Susie Holt) Cox, her grandchildren Robert (Patra)Cox, Elizabeth (James) Mulcahy, and Nathan, her niece, Suzanne (Gary)Kennedy, and her nephew Scott (Laura Painter) Stafford.  Besides her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by her brother and sister-in-law Will Elbert Stafford (Karen Roberts).

A memorial service will be held at Milan First Baptist Church on Thursday, July 25, 2024, at 2 PM with burial to follow in the Oakwood Cemetery in Milan.  Visitation with the family will be held on Thursday from 12 - 2 PM at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Operation Christmas Child in Boone, NC.