Janice Fox had angels everywhere — in her yard, on the cookie jar, on chimes hanging from the ceiling, in her house and covering every Christmas tree.
She had hundreds of others on shelves, not far from the glass cases containing about 500 teapots, which she also collected, said her sister, Arlene Cordova of Edwards.
Fox was 73 when she died at a Carbondale care center on May 6 after battling cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
For 20 years, Fox collected the angels and china teapots while on trips and from friends and family members who always knew what to give her on birthdays and Christmas.
She liked unusual teapots, such as the one in the shape of an elephant and others in the shape of a police car and a school house. “Every now and then, she’d use them,” said Cordova.
The angels are in various shapes, sizes and materials. The smallest is crystal and about 1-half-inch tall, and the largest ones — 2 or 3 feet high — are in the garden.
She had angels on dinnerware, pillow cases, mugs, plates and the frames that held her grandchildren’s pictures, said Cordova.
A tiny ceramic angel, encased in a glass rock, was placed in her casket, said her sister.
“She loved them all and very much believed in angels,” said Cordova.
Fox “was active in everything in the community,” said her daughter, Julie Vigil of Leadville. “If someone wanted something done, she was always there.”
Cooking was a constant. “There was not a day when something wasn’t coming out of her oven,” said Cordova. Her specialties were casseroles, enchiladas, cheesecakes and pies.
Janice Chavez was born in Gilman on June 3, 1937, and lived in the Vail Valley all her life.
She met Walter Fox in Minturn, and the two were married Dec. 13, 1969.
In addition to her husband, daughter and sister, she is survived by two other daughters, Jackie Gomez of Leadville, and Jennifer Dixon of Gypsum; her son, Arthur Fox of Leadville; two brothers, Lawrence Chavez of Englewood and Ernest Chavez of Grand Junction; three other sisters, Beverly Brndiar of Edwards, Alice Perdue of Pueblo and Rosella Montoya of Pueblo; and 11 grandchildren. One son, Loren Fox, died in an automobile accident in 1986.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
