Mary Lou Cox was Born October 26^th 1927 was the oldest of four children of German descent. Born Mary Lou Schauf, growing up during the “great depression”; learned to save practically everything acquired of value including values. Married shortly after the Second World War to a military man in the Army Air Corp became the brunt of abuse in a less than perfect marriage of which like every other marriage was taboo to talk of, correct with counsel, or divorce with dignity.

 

    You simply hung in there if for no other reason, for the children. There were two in fact; one son born in 1947 and another in 1960. Following the husband around from jobsite to jobsite and keeping house and home in tact was the primary function of most women back in the day but there was a little something different, special, unique…valuable about Mary Lou Rasico. She went to work at the atomic plant in Palestine, Arkansas after arriving in the dream hole of her husband on a mission to prove himself.

 

    Judd Rasico was an extremely hard working abusive man’s man, strong as an ox, good looking, uneducated but smart to the point of mathematical genius and ambitious as politics itself. Mary was proud of her man, and so was he. She became office manager for many corporations through the years of relocating to the demands of the construction business.

 

    Southland Greyhound Park and the City of West Memphis, AR were two from scores of accomplishments of corporate building and maintaining to her credit. Women seldom got the credit they deserved in a working environment. Men convinced themselves they had “hired it done” in most cases. May 5^th 1947 Mary Lou gave birth to an extremely intelligent son whose conversations on astounding subjects at nine months old brought delight and acclaim even to the American Indian tribe at the reservation they lived on then during the building of a bridge over a gorge in Oregon.

 

    This was the place she was following Judd on a catwalk hundreds of feet in the air when he turned to speak to her while carrying an armload of twelve foot 2x6s and swatted her off of the catwalk in the process. There was another catwalk a few feet under the one they were on maybe two feet wide on which she landed luckily and safely.

 

    Tommy Jay Rasico grew to be an incredible singer and songwriter among the musical royalty from Memphis, TN but his life cut short due to the drugs and alcohol that happen to so many talented young individuals also on missions to prove themselves. He was twenty-eight years old when he died July 9, 1975. Rasico Construction Company thrived in West Memphis, AR for many years.

 

    A year stint in New Orleans, LA to build/rebuild Jefferson Downs, horse track in 1969 and several, eighteen month stretches overseas; Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Texas and the Sudan were among the foreign locations that separated Judd and Mary Lou off and on for the latter years of their marriage. After thirty three years of marriage and two children (including myself) they divorced bitterly.

 

    Mary Lou relocated back to Missouri where her German heritage had settled her Grandfather’s family in 1856 and married her High School sweetheart, Dean Cox. Dean was an alcoholic and eventually drank himself to death; pancreatic cancer was the official cause of death. Mary Lou suffered a stroke leaving her left side deficit just prior to Dean’s death.

 

    Judd committed suicide after learning of his stomach cancer condition and Mary Lou’s brother died of melanoma cancer; all within a three year period. Mary Lou now lives with her son David in Santa Maria, where he and his wife and children are a delight to her and occupy the majority of her time these days. Mary Lou has always taken the time to write extremely creative prose, poetry, short stories and children’s stories throughout the years. Some of her latest works are in the process of being published publicly.

 

    Mary Lou has recently acquired some acreage in the High Desert of California where she plans to relocate to and write more frequently. Hopefully this will provide lots of good reading material for our pleasure and our families treasure from my beloved mother.