HOUSTON, TEXAS - Lifeline Chaplaincy, a ministry of Churches of Christ to the seriously ill, is mourning losses in its own family. Billy Ray Cox, 71, husband of Lifeline governing board member Patricia Cox, died Sept. 24 at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. An elder of the Saturn Road church in Garland, Cox had served as executive vice president at Harding University and chairman and chief executive officer of Dal-Tile.

Besides his wife, survivors include his three children and nine grandchildren.

Caryl Fry, 54, wife of Virgil Fry, Lifeline’s senior chaplain and executive director, died Sept. 25 at Methodist Hospital in Houston after a lengthy illness.

Abilene Christian University honored the couple with the Christian Service Award last year.

A longtime teacher, she was a charter member of the First Colony church in Sugar Land. Besides her husband, survivors include her parents, two children and a granddaughter.