‘He always had time for you’: Remembering Herb Cox through those he lifted up

Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie, left, rides alongside former Battlefords MLA Herb Cox during the Battleford parade in 2018. Leslie says the moment was one he “will cherish for the rest of my life,” calling Cox a humble mentor who lived “through honesty and respect.” (photo/Ames Leslie)

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That memory — and the hundreds like it shared quietly over coffees, phone calls and years of public service — will echo through the Battlefords on Friday, Nov. 28, when family, friends and former colleagues gather for Cox’s funeral at Territorial Drive Alliance Church.

Cox died on Nov. 16 at age 75, leaving behind a legacy that those closest to him describe not only in accomplishments, but in character.

‘A tremendous human being’

Leslie, the mayor of Battleford, met Cox when both were just beginning their political lives in 2011.

“I quickly realized that Herb was a tremendous human being and somebody that I wanted to align myself with, to learn how to be an elected official.”

Their relationship deepened over years of collaboration — from highway funding to the reopening of the Finlayson Island bridge — but it was the small things that stayed with him.

Leslie still carries the advice Cox once offered him early on.

“Don’t listen to them to fix it, but listen to them to understand what they’re saying,” Cox told him.

It changed the way Leslie approached politics — and, he admits, life.

There was something else, too: Cox’s uncanny ability to make every person feel important.

“He always had time for you,” Leslie said. “And he was like that with almost every person he met. He just had an interest in them as a person, first and foremost.”

When pressed to summarize Cox in a single word, Leslie broke the rule.

“Loyally effective,” he said. “It’s two words, I’m gonna give you two words.”

Former Battlefords MLA Herb Cox, left, stands with the current Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe in this undated photo. (File photo/battlefordsNOW)

‘Classic Herb’

Current MLA for The Battlefords and Saskatchewan Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill never served alongside Cox; he succeeded him. But he remembers the first time he worked up the courage to say hello as just a regular citizen, sometime around 2018.

“I ran into him at the Co-op hardware store [in North Battleford],” he said. “I went up to him and I introduced myself… I probably said something like, ‘Hey, I think you’re doing a hell of a job. Keep it up.’”

Cox didn’t know who he was. It didn’t matter.

“Herb was very generous,” Cockrill said. “Just incredibly humble and approachable and just easy to have a conversation with.”

When Cockrill organized the opening of the Finlayson Island pedestrian bridge in 2023 — a project Cox had championed years earlier — he phoned him personally.

“I said, ‘Hey, I know you worked on this. You should really be there.’”

Cox came, stood quietly at the back and declined every request for interviews or photos.

“He allowed those of us who were elected at the time to take credit for that project, even though he had done an incredible amount of advocacy on that project,” Cockrill said.

“And I think that’s just one example that speaks to how Herb operated.”

‘That guy worked incredibly hard to help me get elected’

When Cox stepped down in 2020, he was dealing with health issues and wanted more time at home. Cockrill wasn’t sure whether the former MLA would be involved in his campaign.

He shouldn’t have worried.

“I don’t think anybody in the 2020 campaign put as many signs up as Herb Cox and that old Ford pickup truck around town,” Cockrill said. “That guy worked incredibly hard to help me get elected… and I’m always incredibly grateful for that.”

After the election, Cox kept checking in.

“Herb was always available to me over call or text for questions and encouragement,” he said. “He just encouraged me and answered questions that I had.”

But there were limits — boundaries rooted in humility.

“Herb never told me how to do the job,” Cockrill said. “He was just always accessible and always encouraging.”

A style of politics that leaves a mark

Those who worked with Cox remember his infrastructure accomplishments for the Battlefords — the Saskatchewan Hospital, Highway 4 improvements, the new building for the Battlefords Trade and Education Centre (BTEC), the renovated John Paul II Collegiate, and so many more. They remember the cabinet titles, the legislative speeches and his long list of big projects he championed.

But what seems to matter most now, as the community prepares to say goodbye, are the smaller legacies.

The way he remembered people’s spouses by name.

The way he asked about their kids.

The way he sat down for coffee with anyone, regardless of party, position or complaint.

“There’s no such thing as a no,” Leslie said, remembering Cox’s approach to problem-solving. “How do we just change it so we can, you know, have a yes?”

Cockrill saw the same thing — and heard it echoed across the legislature after Cox’s death, even from political opponents.

“He was viewed as a very honorable and humble and classy individual who served as an MLA,” he said. “The kind of people that we want more of in politics.”

Former MLA Herb Cox (L) poses with MLA Todd Goudy in rival hockey jerseys in April 2019. (Facebook/Battlefords North Stars)

‘Everything is possible’

As the funeral approaches, both men say they carry Cox’s teachings forward in different ways.

For Leslie, it’s the belief that obstacles are just puzzles waiting for solutions.

“For him… everything is possible. We just need to find the right way to get it done.”

For Cockrill, it’s the simple encouragement Cox offered whenever the job felt heavy.

“He would call me sometimes and telling me to keep my head up,” he said. “I’m forever grateful for that.”

In the years ahead, he will be remembered — not only the MLA, not only the cabinet minister, but the friend who, as Leslie put it, lived his life “through honesty and respect,” and left the Battlefords “better after he was done than the way he adopted when he when he got elected.”

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com

by Kenneth Cheung