J. Taney Willcox Jr., lawyer

J. Taney Willcox Jr., 81, of Bryn Mawr, a lawyer who practiced for more than 50 years after being stricken by polio, died of post-polio syndrome Sept. 16 at Lankenau Hospital.

Born in Wawa, Mr. Willcox graduated from St. Joseph's Preparatory School in 1944. He joined the Navy during World War II and served Stateside until being discharged in 1946.

Mr. Willcox used the G.I. Bill to earn a bachelor's degree in 1950 from St. Joseph's College, where he was captain of the tennis team.

In 1951, Mr. Willcox married Catherine Goldschmidt. He contracted polio in late 1954, six months before a successful vaccine was available. He had completed three years of law school at Temple University before he was hospitalized for several months. The couple's second child was born two weeks after his polio was diagnosed.

Mr. Willcox spent time in an iron lung and never again walked unaided by braces and crutches. Later, he used a wheelchair.

"My father was one of the first students to complete a law degree with a home-to-school telephone service," daughter Tina said. "A friend at Temple carried a box hooked up to a phone from class to class, and my father listened from his bed at home in Merion. We knew we had to be quiet."

Mr. Willcox graduated in 1956 and opened a general law practice in Narberth, where he worked until two weeks before his death.

He earned the title of "the voice of Waldron Academy" for announcing all the outdoor sporting events at the school his sons attended.

"Steps were my father's chagrin," his daughter said. "After visiting FDR's home in Hyde Park, Dad was inspired by adaptations that could be done to improve life. He did some of these things to his home so his life would not be limited by polio."

Mr. Willcox gardened, traveled to Italy, rode his scooter at his summer home in Florida, made furniture, and painted in oils.

For 40 years, he helped medically fragile people by serving on the boards of St. Edmond's Home for Children in Radnor and Catholic Social Services.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Willcox is survived by sons J. Taney III, John and Bryan; another daughter, Mary Elise Coulter; 13 grandchildren; and two sisters.

A Funeral Mass was said Sept. 19. Burial was in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken.

Memorial donations may be made to Catholic Social Services, 222 N. 17th St., Philadelphia, 19103.