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The Sage of Pizen Switch, his homespun humor tickled readers for decades. He invented the famous Mason Valley News slogan: “The Only Newspaper in the World That Gives a Damn About Yerington.” A former state assemblyman, Cox wrote his columns on a 1924 Underwood.
Here’s the Nevada Senate resolution in honor of his passing:
Whereas, The members of this legislative body note with sadness the passing of Walter Cox, a man who spent a lifetime serving the people of this state; and
Whereas, Walter Cox was a native Nevadan, who was born on September 24, 1900, in Virginia City, Nevada, to Franklin F. and Elizabeth McEvoy Cox; and
Whereas, Walter Cox moved to Yerington in 1906 where his father worked for the Yerington Times; and
Whereas, His father purchased the Mason Valley News in 1919 and the Yerington Times in 1932, and soon combined the two newspapers into one publication; and
Whereas, Walter Cox learned the printing trade at an early age and eventually became the owner, editor-publisher, columnist and janitor of the Mason Valley News; and
Whereas, His outstanding literary skills were expressed with a journalistic flair in “Cox’s Column,” which ran weekly in the Mason Valley News until his retirement in 1990; and
Whereas, Walter Cox, often referred to as the “Sage of Pizen Switch,” spent over 50 years married to the love of his life, Vivian, who preceded him in death on May 7, 1989; and
Whereas, Walter Cox served this state as a member of both the Nevada State Senate and Assembly, the Nevada Gaming Commission, the Nevada Planning Commission and the Yerington City Council; and
Whereas, Walter Cox served as President of the Nevada State Press Association and later enjoyed lobbying in the Nevada Legislature on behalf of the Association; and
Whereas, Walter Cox is survived by his daughter, Carol Ann Green of Rexford, New York, and his son, Gary Cox of Mercer Island, Washington; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of Nevada, the Assembly Concurring, That the members of the 69th session of the Nevada Legislature do hereby extend their sincere condolences to the family and friends of a truly gifted native Nevadan; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate prepare and transmit a copy of this resolution to Walter Cox’s surviving children, Carol Ann Green and Gary Cox.
