PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A Portsmouth family is mourning the loss of a woman remembered as outgoing, compassionate, and devoted to her loved ones after a house fire last week in the Churchland neighborhood.
Keisha Wilson-Cox died last Wednesday afternoon after a fire broke out at her home on Weyanoke Drive. According to Portsmouth Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Services, crews responded to a call about a fire that started in the garage. Wilson-Cox did not survive.
Her daughter, Sahdiah Cox, described her mother as kind and strong.
“Mom is so kind, mom is so strong,” Cox said.
Wilson-Cox worked as a social worker, a career her daughter said reflected her caring personality.
“My mom liked her friends. She loved talking to her friends. My mom just liked talking. My mom could talk for hours,” Cox said.
Cox said she and others were able to get her grandmother and the family dog safely out of the house.
The loss has been especially painful as the family home now sits quiet, filled with memories.
Cox said she often thinks about milestones they shared, from the first days of school and the first days of her mother’s new job, when Wilson-Cox would ask her daughter to take photos to mark the occasion.
“My dad and my mom, they didn’t come from much,” Cox said. “I just wish that she had gotten to have an easier life before she went.”
Family members say they are leaning on support from friends and loved ones and are comforted by the many lives Wilson-Cox touched.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
For now, the Cox family says they are holding on to memories and to each other.
The family has started a GoFundMe and is asking for donations.
