TRAILBLAZING civil engineer, tap dancer, endearing tax office worker, badminton stalwart — Peta Cox was many things to many people.
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Those varied facets were yesterday outlined to mourners at her funeral in Wodonga.
A cousin, workmate and friends offered an insight into Mrs Cox’s life, which was cut short when she died in a crash involving two cars and a petrol tanker on the Wodonga-Yackandandah Road on the morning of August 7.
The Yackandandah resident, 67, had been on the brink of retiring from the Albury Tax Office, where she had worked for 27 years.
She had endured much grief with the deaths of her sister, father and husband in recent years.
Joanne Jones said her cousin had a great sense of humour and had lived life to the fullest.
“She was always highly intelligent, she was always self-effacing,” Mrs Jones said.
Mrs Cox grew up at Corryong and was dux of her school before becoming a civil engineer and working for the Sydney Water Board designing pipelines and drainage.
Mrs Jones said her cousin joked that as the only girl in her engineering class she must have got there because of her male sounding name.
After travelling the world, Mrs Cox settled in England and met her future husband Ted, whom she wed in 1977.
Family brought her back to Australia and she retrained as an account- ant and began at the tax office in the mid-1980s.
Workmate Andrew Mitchell said Mrs Cox made what was sometimes very dry work enjoyable and was undaunted by its technical and exacting nature.
“The qualities Peta showed at work truly endeared her to everybody,” Mr Mitchell said.
“Peta was held in genuine and great affection.”
Dance teacher Sharon Reynolds recalled how Mrs Cox took up tap dancing aged 50 and became a concert regular, dressing up for themes as varied as Pirates of the Caribbean, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and the Village People.
Albury-Wodonga Badminton Association secretary Martin Derks said Mrs Cox was a talented player and administrator and had completed a coaching course to helping youngsters during her retirement.
“A great player, a lovely lady and a dear friend,” Mr Derks concluded.