Amy Cox has the heart of a Lion

If you’ve ever met Amy Cox, she is someone hard to forget. You can find her hanging around Market Days making sure things run smooth at Hamburger Hill. She is the second Vice President of the Lions Club, on her way up, and she’s also Marketing Director. It is a big job, but she finds time to do other things to help the Lions move forward in helping the community.

The Lions are one of those organizations that make Wimberley the special place it is – friendly and giving. “Every penny goes back to the community helping everybody. Scholarships, youth exchange, schools, scouts, EM. Everybody needs money… it helps everyone in the community,” Amy said.

At Lions’ meetings, she’s always there taking pictures or making sure are all are smiling, laughing and having a good time. She’s just a fun person to be around. With her knowledge of computer graphics and media she is very valuable to the Lions.

Although Wimberley is home now, it’s a long way from Idaho Falls, Idaho, where she spent her first five years. Her father was a nuclear Chemical Test Engineer. A big change happened when they moved to Southern California. It was a different culture to say the least; in fact her older sister attended the University of California Berkeley.

But at 15 years old, her father was transferred back to Idaho. “I was a sophomore, and it was back to the same house. I graduated from Skyline High School at 16… I was upset to be back in Idaho.” She left home at 17 and was on her own. She moved to Houston and married at 18.

“It was super humid and I went through a miserable divorce. Landed in Austin in 1975 and worked at Mr. Dan’s Depot as a bartender.” She knew that she was an artist in some capacity and enrolled in classes at Austin Community College.

Silk Screening was a forerunner to printed graphics and she learned the craft in the mid-80s and had a business for four years.

Computers came out. “I need to learn computers. I sold my business and went back to school.” She arrived in Wimberley in 1987 and realized she needed to buy a house. She was single, and “fell in love with a house” and is still in it. Then there was another life changing moment.

“I met Russell (now her husband) at the Cypress Creek Café.”

He happened to be there with his sister, and she thought ‘he’s married.’ His sister informed her they were siblings, and “the rest as they say, is history.” In 1995, their business A Studio Z, where Amy can put together her skills of graphic design and knowledge of printed graphics, had a contract with Schlitterbahn and cut sheet catalogs. The business was growing out of their house.

In 2005 they were in the print business, and they moved out of the house and into town. They leased a printer from Xerox. “It was a new toy, but they don’t give you a teacher.” They later moved to a better location next to Pizza Hut.

She got involved in the Lions when Russell decided he wanted to give back to the community. She joined up in 2008 and supervised Hamburger Hill at Market Days. “Only missed once in twelve years.”

In the Lions, becoming 3rd V.P. is the historian’s position, keeping track of club doings with pictures, etc. “I had a camera and I can’t say no…. It’s a lot of fun, like a cheerleader… For a few years I would write words to familiar songs and adding new lyrics to get the people up for Market Days.”

Things were running quite well. Then March hit. “We shut everything down (at the business), had to let people go for three weeks… but COVID signs needed to be done and all restaurants needed one-use menus.’

As for the Lions Club, “... We have Market Days (to raise funds)... Now I’m learning new technology, with zoom meetings and such. I’m learning a new tool for the Lions.”

In 2018, she was named Lion of the Year, and she has also won numerous prestigious Lions Awards.