Nancy Louise (DeVirgilio) Cox
Age: 91
Date of Death: October 25, 2023
Lansdowne, PA
Nancy Louise (DeVirgilio) Cox, 91 years old, born in Pitcairn, PA, lived 50 years in New Cumberland, PA died Wednesday, October 25, 2023. She was the daughter of the late Guy and Louise DeVirgilio, sister to Rose Santangelo (late), Shirley Randig and Sandy Oravec, mother of Jennifer Cox (late), David Cox and Susan Pickford and loving grandmother to William Pickford and Kenzie Pickford. Nancy also shared her love with 5 nieces and nephews and 5 great nieces and nephews. She lovingly accepted into the family every variety of animal her children brought home and cherished her many furry great-grandchildren. Nancy had an unassuming, generous nature combined with a (stubborn) strong will and a desire to leave her part of this world a little better place then she found it. As a teenager, she wrote a local newsletter for service men in WWII from her town and worked as a stringer for the local paper. As a young mother in the early 1960’s she organized a summer playground program for children in her community, started a public library above the old firehouse and free-lanced as a reporter for the local paper. In her 40’s she was a founding member of the Pennsylvania chapter of Common Cause, fighting for good government and against political corruption. She demonstrated on the capitol steps with her daughter and grandchildren, protesting the legislator’s midnight pay raise. Nancy went back to school in her 50’s and earned an associate’s degree in Sociology with highest honors. She was co-founder of The Chloramine Information Center in 2007, fighting for clean and safe drinking water, educating the public and warding off the introduction of ammonia to the water system for three years. She walked the offices of the PA legislature demanding a hearing, and put her name to a civil law suit on the issue. She was the campaign chairwoman for two area judicial campaigns. Politically active with an unwavering moral compass, she could argue the current political issues to the very end. She helped raise her grandchildren and they were her greatest source of pride. She championed the dreams and goals of others over her own and her greatest joy was watching others succeed. Our family is grateful to Penn Medicine Cardiology at Presbyterian who saw Nancy as a person, not an age, and gave us 3 more years with her than we otherwise would have had. Nancy was well loved and will be greatly missed.
