Cox, Captain Duane, Retired Duane Arlo Cox, 88, U.S. Navy Veteran, husband, grandfather, and great grandfather of Eden Prairie, MN was given the wonderful gift of being surrounded by family and friends in the final days before making his way to his heavenly home on May 24, 2024. Duane is preceded in death by his son, Brian; parents, Suel & Clarine;brothers, Stan, Conrad, Jerry; and sister-in-law, Patricia Moe Cox. He is survived by his caring, loving, compassionate and honorable wife, Carole, of 65 years; daughter, Terrie (Pete) Silbaugh;grandchildren, Joshua (Tiffany), Andrew, Kaitlyn (Patrick) Soldan; great grandchildren,Fiona (8), Dax (5) and Samantha (22 months); sisters-in-law, Lynn Cox, and Carolyn Cox; Aunt Grace Vee; and many nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held at Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel, 1 Tower Ave., Minneapolis, MN on July 11, 2024 at 10:00AM, followed by a honors committal ceremony at the cemetery.At 12:30 PM, a light lunch will be served at Flagstone, 8350 Commonwealth Dr., Eden Prairie, MN. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be given to the Michael J. Fox Parkinson's Research Foundation (give.michaeljfox.org) or St. Barnabas Lutheran Church, 15600 Old Rockford Rd., Plymouth, MN. washburn-mcreavy.com. Duane was born on a farm in Lamoure, ND on April 12, 1936. At the age of 14, the family moved to Wadena, Mn where he graduated from Wadena HS in 1954. He attended Saint Cloud Teachers college(Saint Cloud State University). In September of 1956, he joined the Navy as a Naval aviation cadet and entered flight training in Pensacola, FL.  He married the love of his life, Carole Zimmer on November 8, 1958 in Osage, Iowa. Together they had two children, Terrie Lynn (1959) and Brian Lee(1961). The family had many Navy life adventures, living in various states. When Duane was home from six-month deployments, he enjoyed his family dearly. He coached Brian's Little League baseball team in Hawaii, attended school functions and enjoyed his family trips to Yosemite, Lake Tahoe and Washington state. The family had a tradition of going on "Sunday" drives following church. His faith was very important to him. Upon retirement in 2000, Duane and Carole moved from Alexandria VA to Eden Prairie MN to be closer to family. Duane loved spending time with his grandchildren, Joshua, Andrew, and Kaitlyn. He had fun playing Santa and making grandpa specials(ice cream Sundaes). He was proud of Josh and Drew for attaining the Eagle Scout rank and of Kaitlyn on becoming a Physician Assistant.  Duane very much enjoyed the family Alaskan cruise and their 60th wedding anniversary trip to Europe with Terrie and husband Pete. He loved his fly-in Canadian fishing trips, and his annual Ely deer hunts with brother Jerry, Pete, and nephews, Dana and Kris. He enjoyed following his Minnesota sports teams – the Twins, Vikings, and Wild. Lastly, he adored his dog and co-pilot Buddy. Duane was a very decorated Naval  Officer, serving 29 years and reaching the rank of Captain. He qualified in 16 different types of naval aircraft, ranging from jets, turbo prop, and propeller driven. His total flight time was an excess of 6000 hours. He specialize in photo reconnaissance, intelligence, anti-submarine warfare, personnel management, and systems acquisition management. His Atlantic military duties included many photo reconnaissance detachments throughout Europeand parts of the African continent, along with the Caribbean. After Castro overthrew the Batista regime, he flew photo flights of Castro's "Victory March" from Santiago Cuba, burning the cane fields as they march into Havana. This started a series of Cuban photo flights out of Guantánamo Bay Cuba, including the before and after April 17, 1961 Bay of Pigs debacle. The photography was top-secret, which was immediately flown by special carrier flights to President Kennedy. The Bay of Pigs caused Castro to look for ways to defend Cuba. Castro entered into a defense agreement with the Soviet union, which started the process of placing ballistic missiles on Cuban soil. Duane was involved with photo flights that detected the early construction of launch sites which eventually resulted in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Many government experts, agree that the Cuban missile crisis was the closest the US and the Soviet Union came to a nuclear war. During the Cuban flight operations, NASA was also in full operation and Duane's squadron (VAP62) was involved with many photo flights of special interest in NASA operations. On February 20, 1962,  the day of John Glenn's maiden flight, Duane flew as copilot with the squadron commanding officer, and he was tasked to operate special aircraft, mounted cameras, and a handheld camera for close up images of John Glenn's friendship 7 launch. They flew in a circular orbit at 39,000 feet to take pictures of the stress on the booster rocket as it passed their altitude – pictures were successful. Duane was also involved in planning the photo flights for the last in a series of  nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific. He flew the P3 aircraft in the Pacific and the Far East which included numerous operational flights in support of the cold war in Vietnam. He flew combat reconnaissance flights in the support of Vietnam from 1966 to 1973. The Vietnam flights were a variety of flights called operation market time. The primary focus of these coastal patrols was to stay on the supply materials to the Viet Cong coming by sea. During 1973, Duane (at the age of 34) was the Commanding  Officer of VP46, which had a squadrons of nine aircraft, 12 flight crews, 85 officers and 480 a listed personnel. During the squadron tour while deployed in Japan, he also served additional duty as commander Japan Air Patrol group. Duane served three years in the VAP62 photo reconnaissance squadron. He was a department head and patrol squadron for VP 4, pilot instructor in patrol squadron VP31 and commanding officer patrol squadron VP46. All squadron aircraft were reconnaissance/anti-submarine P3A, P3B and P3C series aircraft. Duane's major command in 1979 to 1981 was as Commodore,  Oceanographic Systems Pacific, headquartered at Ford island Oahu, Hawaii. His major command consisted of his staff of 9+ subordinate commands throughout the Pacific with 3000+ officers, enlisted men and woman. His shore  duty tours were in California and Washington DC. One interesting assignment was in the Pentagon with the secretary of Navy's staff. He was tasked to lead a study group to develop, and start implementing physician assistants into the Navy medical system. He graduated from the Naval postgraduate school, Monterey, CA and the national Defense University at Fort McNair, Washington DC. where he received a masters degree equivalent in Systems Acquisitions Management. . He was also a graduate of the Monterey, CA Naval aviation safety school, which focused on accident prevention and investigations. During the early 60s he was a candidate for the astronaut program, but did not have the right type of college degree in the final cut. Duane retired from the Navy in 1985. His last tour of duty as a Naval Captain was the deputy and manager of the Naval anti-submarine warfare systems project office, Washington DC. After his retirement from the Navy, he worked in the Washington DC, office of the Minnesota Sperry Corporation During  the time that it became Unisys. In 1987, he was selected to become the CEO and Chairman of the board for a defense contractor, Planning Sysrems Incorporated (PSI) in McLean VA. He left PSI in 1981, their after forming and working with 501C3 nonprofit organizations, in addition to serving on many boards as a Director and officer. In 1987 he came the CEO/Chairman of Victory Systems, Alexandria, VA, a corporation that designed and built a prototype helicopter for commercial and military UAB markets. In 2000  he retired and moved to Eden Prairie MN. He was a member of the Washington DC military Association of America, Fleet reserve association, Association of Naval Avaition(ANA), the US, Air Force association, Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, Pensacola, FL. He was also a member of the Military Officers Association of Minnesota, the Hopkins, MN chapter of the American legion. He served as a ANA Commanding Officer of the Minnesota planes of fame, squadron, along with serving 12 years as a trustee to the board of directors for Gettysburg Lutheran theological seminary. He was a member of the veterans committee that built a "world class" Veterans Memorial in Eden Prairie, MN, and was a member of Saint Barnabas Lutheran Church, in Plymouth, MN. Duane's military honors include the legion of merit with a gold star, signifying a second award, meritorious service medal, air metals in numerous combat, and cold war, medals, and ribbons. Duane will be dearly missed, but his legacy will go on forever through our stories, and wonderful, cherished memories. 

Published on June 23, 2024