Marilyn Kay CoxPeabody, KS

Marilyn Kay Eberle Cox, 84, Peabody, Kansas, passed away Saturday, January 31, 2026 at Newton Medical Center. Memorial services will be 11 am, Thursday, February 5th, at Peabody Unity Methodist Church.

Marilyn was born on March 23, 1941 to Lawrence E. Eberle and Mabel Mae Neuhauser Eberle at the Salem hospital in Hillsboro, Kansas.

Marilyn loved living in the country, on the farm that had belonged to her grandfather Joseph E. Eberle. After her parents married, Grandpa and Grandma Eberle moved to Peabody and her father and mother took over the farm. While Marilyn loved helping her mom, she especially loved spending time outside playing and helping her father take care of the animals. She rode her beloved horse Tom. Tom was actually a work horse, but he seemed to tolerate Marilyn. Tom even laid down so she could get on him! Although, he would sometimes lay down while she was on his back so she could get off. One of her favorite memories of caring for the cattle was when her Dad would let her help wean the calves.

Marilyn had her Mother Mabel for only thirteen years; however, her Mom made good use of that short time teaching Marilyn most of what she would need to know. She was able to cook, clean, and most importantly, help to take care of her little sister Karen. Even though her mother prepared her for life after she passed, she had to mature at a young age to help raise Karen.

Marilyn attended Center grade school located one mile west of the farm. She often walked to school. She really enjoyed that school and loved her friends that also attended. It was a one room school that was later replaced with a larger school that had a cloak room and small library. Marilyn read every book in that library. She would then attend Peabody High School, where she met her forever friend and sweetheart Jim Cox. Jim and Marilyn married on January 3, 1958. They lived in Peabody their entire lives, except for the five years when they lived in the Lyona parsonage near Junction City.

Marilyn put as much into her life as she possibly could. The early years of marriage were spent caring for her two sons, Randy and Rick. She loved being a mother to her two boys who loved playing outside and getting dirty as much as she did! When her sons started school, Marilyn went to work at the Peabody State Bank. She liked working at the bank and those she worked with became wonderful friends that she would have for a lifetime.

Jim worked at the local grocery store and in 1980; Jim and Marilyn bought that store and operated Jim’s Jack and Jill grocery for 23 years. Their son Randy, and his wife Laurie, operated the store with them until it was sold in 2003.

Marilyn always enjoyed working in her home church, the Peabody United Methodist Church. Marilyn and Jim sponsored the Community Youth Fellowship while their sons were at home. She especially enjoyed teaching Sunday school classes. She loved her Junior High class and then felt called to start a class for the young adults. Those young folks became forever friends.

In 1996, Marilyn answered the call to ordained ministry. She went back to school attending St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, where she would complete Course of Study work becoming a Licensed Local Pastor. In 1997, while attending school, she was appointed to serve as an associate pastor at Eastmoore UMC in Marion and the Marion rural church called Youngtown. She would also serve the Burdick UMC, and the churches of Lyona and Woodbine.

Marilyn acknowledged that one must put the Lord first in one's life so that you could love your family and others as they deserved to be loved.

Marilyn said that the Lord gave her the very best family any woman could have. A husband who loved her, supported her in all that she did, and cared for her as her health issues would take their toll. Her sister Karen Eberle Buchanan was her very best friend!

She loved her daughters-in-law, Randy’s wife Laurie and Rick’s wife Chelle, feeling that she finally had daughters! Her world was completed by her grandchildren, Erin, Megan, Drew, Derek, and Devin, and her great-grandchildren: Carter, Beckett, and Harper Lundstrom, and Oliver and Penelope Pratt. She also loved the young people her Grandchildren chose as their forever mates: Erin to Eric Lundstrom, Megan to Brandon Pratt, Drew to Sarah White, and Derek to Lyndzie Brace. She so loved each new family member and thought of each as a son or daughter.

She was also blessed with the most wonderful friends: school friends, coffee club friends, church friends and Bible Study friends. God is good, all the time!

She was preceded in death by her Grandparents, her parents, her wonderful Aunt Mabel Neufeld who was a mother to her as well as cousins and friends. Marilyn will be forever remembered and loved by her family, friends, and the countless people she has touched through her time in the ministry.

Marilyn is survived by her husband of 68 years, Jim Cox; sons Randy and wife Laurie of Wichita; Rick and wife Chelle of Kansas City, Missouri; grandchildren Erin Lundstrom and husband Eric, Megan Pratt and husband Brandon, Drew Cox and wife Sarah, Derek Cox and wife Lyndzie, and Devin Cox; great grandchildren Carter, Beckett, and Harper Lundstrom, Oliver and Penny Pratt; and her sister, Karen Buchanan, Wichita.

Memorial donations in Marilyn’s name may be directed towards St. Jude’s Children Hospital.

www.stjude.org