Joe Fox

MOREHOUSE, Mo. -- Joe Harrison Fox, 76, of Tallahassee, Fla., passed away Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010, in Tallahassee.

He was born Nov. 22, 1934, in Morehouse, Mo.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Wendell Maurice and Inez Eleanor Barnett Fox; and a sister, Anna Jeannette Fox Hecker.

In 1956 Joe completed his bachelor of science in agriculture from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he was a member of Kappa Alpha Order and National Society of Scabbard and Blade.

After graduation he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, artillery in the U.S. Army and served two years in Korea.

Upon being discharged from the Army as a first lieutenant in 1958, he returned to Sikeston, Mo., to manage a 5,000-acre family farm. He was a member of Morehouse Grand Lodge 603, SEMO Shrine Club, Missouri State Historical Society and Rauch-Spence Memorial Methodist Church.

At age 40 Joe joined the Peace Corps, serving two terms specializing in providing agricultural assistance through the National Investment Bank in Ghana and Upper Volta. He also became adviser of Rural Roads Project in Bangladesh.

Joe returned home to complete a master of business administration at Southeast Missouri State University by 1980, obtained a teaching position in the accounting department, and became a member of American Institute of CPAs.

He left teaching to represent the Mercantile Bank of St. Louis as trust officer. He retired to Tallahassee in 1989, but 10 years later joined the appraisal firm of Bell, Griffith and Associates Inc. He was a member of MAI and served as an officer in the Tallahassee MENSA organization.

Joe Harrison's kindness and sense of humor will be missed.

Burial will be in the family plot in Essex Cemetery at Essex, Mo.

Announcement from Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter, Mo.