Once upon a time, Frank Lee Cox wanted to be a pharmacist. As life worked out, he took over the family insurance business.
Once upon a time, he also wanted to be mayor of Arab. As life worked out, he was.
Monday marks the end of Cox's two decades of service in Arab city government, 13 years as a city councilman, the last seven as mayor.
On Wednesday, with five days left before Gary Beam becomes mayor, Cox's office in the northwest corner of Arab City Hall already looks deserted.
Gone are the other trappings of his office, the pictures on the walls, his proclamation from the governor making him an honorary Alabama Colonel in the National Guard. Where a landslide of papers was once heaped, sits a nice desk, now all but empty.
"I took a little out every week," Cox grins. "There was a lot to carry out. I wanted to give the new mayor a chance to bring in his or her stuff and get accustomed to the office."
The last comment refers to the physical room, but, on reflection, he says, it takes several months to get accustomed to the office of mayor as a position and responsibility.
"It took me a while to get used to being the mayor, to get used to being called Mayor," Cox says.
The job allows no settling in phase. Six years ago when Johnny Hart left to head the Marshall County E-911, the new Mayor Cox found himself right off the bat facing decisions that affected the people of Arab.
Cox, now 56, didn't complain. After all, he says, being mayor is something he'd hoped to accomplish for years.
He always liked politics, which got a boost his junior year at Arab High School when he was elected class president. His senior year, the faculty elected him as Mr. Arab.
"It inspired me to know that I was thought of that much," he says. Maybe. Just maybe, he thought, he could be elected mayor someday.
"I wanted to give something back to the community," he says. "I have always loved Arab."
After graduating in 1970, Cox majored in biology at The University of Alabama. From there, he went to Samford University and studied pharmacy. His dream was to own a drug store in Arab.
He lacked a year at Samford when, on Dec. 14, 1975, his father, Robert Hinds Cox, died. That left vacant his dad's place in the family business, Hinds and Cox Insurance, started by his dad and his uncle, Woodrow Hinds, a former mayor.
Cox's mother, now Betty Cox Williams, and his younger brother, Bobby (who died in 1991), needed the income, so he abandoned his pharmacy plans, returned home and took his father's place at the family business.
"I have never regretted it," Cox says. "God has a strange way of working things out."
In 1986, Cox and Jan Lawson of Guntersville married.
Two years later, as Arab prepared to switch from a commission to mayor-council form of government, he decided to run for city council.
Several people encouraged him, he says, the first being Louise Smalley, a family friend.
"I don't know if she remembers, but one day in church she told me I ought to run for mayor," Cox says. He settled city council, and ran for Place 5 against Jerry Ray Cobb and Marilyn Crooker.
Aug. 22, 1988, Jan gave birth to their first child, Cameron.
Aug. 23, 1988, was another big event. In the city election, Cox polled 1,077 votes to best Cobb and Crooker, with 790 and 208 votes, respectively.
He went on to be re-elected three times to the city council. His last term, serving as mayor pro tem, moved him into the mayor's office in 2002. He ran for re-election in 2004 and won again.
In a political career that spanned six elections, 1988 was the first and last time Cox faced opposition until this summer in his bid for a second full term as mayor.
"And then I had four candidates," he laughs. "You just never know."
Earlier this year, as the list of candidates for mayor lengthened, Cox remained mum. People wondered. Would he run or not?
"I wasn't going to run," Cox says. "I had already made up my mind."
Two factors, however, left him restless with his decision.
One, he says, was concern about city employees who, for years, had been getting increases in their insurance premiums but not their paychecks. To give them a 3-percent pay raise this year, Cox was able to get profits through his position on the board of the Marshall County Gas District, which is owned by Arab, Guntersville and Albertville.
Now, he says, he was worried about continued funding for that raise.
"The others were OK," Cox says. "But Clayton was broken-hearted that I wasn't running."
Besides the broken heart, Clayton blurted out that Dad would be a sissy if he didn't run.
Cox relented, but only conditionally. He made Clayton agree to go door-to-door with him campaigning, and to help him put up signs.
Cox had not raised money and felt that at least two of the candidates were running strong. It would be an uphill battle.
"I want you to know," he told Clayton, "that I'm already in third place.
Clayton may or may not have known the political reality facing his dad.
"But he does now," Cox grins from behind the empty desk in his empty office at city hall.
Cox says family - even Clayton - is fine that the election turned out as it did.
"My wife is elated," he says. "I am a little disappointed, as anybody would be, but I'm not going to be depressed or down."
Cox says he is optimistic that Arab has a bright future.
While he's always felt that way, he notes it as ironic that the incident that best illustrated the spirit of Arab came during, and in the wake of, its darkest day - the morning of Feb. 16, 1995, when a killer tornado hit Joppa, Arab and Brashiers Chapel.
About 5:30 a.m., Cox, a councilman at the time, was awakened by an insurance client who called him to say his roof had been ripped off by what he thought was a tornado.
The power was out at his house, but as Cox quickly dressed he could see the contents of his sock drawer in nearly constant flashes of lightning.
He was at his office in 15 minutes and called his staff in early, anticipating a long day. Then he drove down South Main Street to where he knew damage was heaviest.
"I was floored by what I saw," he says. "It looked like a bomb went off."
Emergency personnel were pouring in. Cox got in touch with Mayor Hart and asked what he could do. "Stay close by," Hart told him.
At his office, Cox and his staff worked through the day, that night and the following day handling claims.
Through the mayhem and destruction, he saw something good shining.
"I was amazed at how well the town responded with help and prayers," Cox says. "People did whatever they could to help the citizens who had been devastated. We came together as a big family, stronger than ever."
Similar caring was evident a year later during the big ice storm and, on a personal level, when Clayton wrecked a bike and broke his eye socket in three places, nearly blinding him.
Cox wants to get back to full-time insurance work. It's way too early to even consider retirement, he says, especially with one child in college and two more to go.
He makes no mention of any future political involvement in Arab, but that doesn't rule out civic involvement.
"If I can help by being a regular citizen, I am all for it," Cox says. "My love for Arab is greater than my love for the office of mayor or council. I ran to help Arab. That's the only reason I ran."
He says - as he has before - that Arab represents the best of what small towns and communities are in America.
"And I truly believe Arab's best days are yet to come," Cox says. "I look forward to living here and being part of it."
"It's been a good 20 years," he says. "A very good 20 years.
"I'm blessed, not only to live here but to have been able to serve the citizens. I didn't do it for the money. I didn't do it for the publicity. I did it only for the love of this town."
Sure, he'll miss the office, at least some aspects of it, Cox says.
"But the best part of it is that I will be able to spend a lot more time with my family and with my wife. I have missed a lot of ballgames and concerts.
"So," he adds, "I go from one good thing to an even better thing - being with my family in Arab, Alabama."
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