Allan J. ("Jay") Fox IV's Obituary
Allan J. “Jay” Fox
Royal Oak: Allan J. “Jay” Fox IV of Royal Oak, MD. checked out of his mortal life on Thursday, July 19, 2012, at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore. He was 69. Jay was born on November 9, 1942, the son of the late Allan J. Fox III and Ann W. Fox of Austin TX. Jay had an interesting life, having grown up and lived in Houston, TX., graduating from Spring Branch High School, in Houston, TX. with an academic degree; Autodesk’s School for Auto CAD, as a certified AutoCAD operator; Ryder’s Commercial Truck Drivers School and Skyline aviation Flight School, until his first wife Carol passed away in 1991. During the 1950s he met both his first wife, Carol and his second wife Jeanne while spending summers in Royal Oak with his grandparents. During the summer of 1959, he lived and worked on Jefferson Island (one of the Poplar Islands). However it was not until Carol passed away that he and his daughter Megan moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland permanently. Jay considered himself the luckiest man in the world to have been married to, two great ladies. As a life member of the National Rifle Association, an Endowed Life member of the Walter M. Pierson Masonic Lodge# 1339 of the A.F. &A.M. in Houston, TX, Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, S.J. Valley of Houston Orient of Texas, Vietnam Veterans of America, Easton, MD. Chapter and the American Legion Post 70 of Easton. He was very proud to have served his country in the U.S. Coast Guard both here and overseas. It was while in the Coast Guard that he began working on aids to navigation. Little did he know this would be the beginning of an exciting and interesting career! One of his first duties was to upgrade the CO2 powered bell striker on the Hooper’s Strait Lighthouse (now located at the Maritime Museum) to an electric one. Later while aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Iris in the Gulf of Mexico offshore, Texas, while looking at the lights of the oil platforms a fellow crew member said, he thought there would be good money made servicing those lights? After his honorable discharge he remembered that. He went to work for Automatic Power, which later became a division of Wallace & Tiernan as he was familiar with their equipment because they were a primary supplier of the Coast Guard’s aids to navigation. He started out on their company boat servicing the navigation lights and fog horns on offshore oil platforms. Then in 1967 they sent him to Corpus Christi, TX. Where he was to head up their South Texas sale and Service Branch. Then in 1969 they transferred him back to Houston and a new assignment. For years Jay traveled extensively throughout the U.S., Arctic, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Caribbean and the North Seas. Jay went to such exotic places as Bermuda, where he sold all the lights to upgrade Hamilton Harbor from acetylene gas to electric, St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands where he sold ands supervised the installation of aids to navigation for the Hess Oil Co. first terminal for Super Tankers, the Bahamas where he made routine Lighthouse inspections. In fact almost became the Director of Lighthouses there. However it was Alexandria, Egypt where the Pharos Light” had been and the “Great Pyramid that impressed him the most. Likewise he often found himself in places that were not so exotic such as Lagos, Nigeria, Bombay, India and Tehran, Iran to mention a few. It was while in Tehran that some radicals began shooting people across the street less than 100 feet from where Jay was standing. While they were reloading & changing their machine gun clips, Jay, quickly went to his hotel, checked out and went to the airport. Jay left Iran for Istanbul, Turkey, then Rome, finally after traveling to 53 different countries around the world, Jay decided he had had enough and returned home to the U.S. as the fun was over! Upon returning to the U.S. Jay made a career change (having a good rapport with many Oil Companies) he went to work selling and servicing oil field equipment. Jay also worked in the Trucking industry, both as owner operator and salesman, mostly in the oilfield trucking services. Over the years, Jay has had many accomplishments; he was a published inventor and patent holder for a new and improved blowout preventer (BOP) ram seal, U.S, patent 4,703.938. Additionally he held many licenses having gotten his commercial driver’s license at the age of 16, so he could drive trucks part-time. He later upgraded that license to a AM-CDL with endorsements for motorcycles, combination vehicles, double & triple trailers, tanker, passenger and hazardous materials; Federal Communication Commission Amateur Radio Lic., N5LKJ; Federal Aviation Administration Commercial Pilot Certificate, with endorsements for airplane, single and multi engine land and instrument; just to mention a few! Jay was an avid motorcyclist who rode and raced motorcycles for over 55 years. He often said that his thoughts are that “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely, in a well preserved body, but rather to skid broadside, thoroughly used up, totally exhausted and worn out while loudly proclaiming WOW what a Hell of a ride! He is survived by his loving wife Jeanne Hanrahan Fox, two brothers; Ric Fox and his wife Crystal of Austin, TX., Brough Fox and his wife Wanda of Ft. Worth, TX., a sister; Tamison F. Brau of Austin TX., two step-children; Kathleen Morris of Oxford, MD.. and Brad Morris of Charleston, S.C. as well as step grandchildren and numerous nieces & nephews. In addition to his first wife of 28 years, Carol, Jay was preceded in death by his beloved daughter Megan Alyssa Fox. Friends may call on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at the Hurley & Ostrowski Funeral Home P.A. St. Michaels, from 6:00PM to 8:00PM, where a Masonic service will be held at 7:30PM. Burial will be private. Donations may be made to the Talbot Hospice Foundation 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD. 21601 or to the “Garden of the Rock” , C/o St. Lukes U.M.C. St. Michaels, MD. 21663.
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