Gov. Spencer Cox & First Lady Abby Cox

Lessons Learned

Utah's Governor and First Lady Draw Inspiration from Rural Roots and Snow College Experiences

By Emily Peterson

Reflecting on a political journey that started on the Fairview City Council and led to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office and then to Utah’s highest elected position, Governor Spencer Cox said, “I still to this day don’t think I chose this career. If you look at how we got here, the career kind of chose us.”

While being Governor and First Lady may not have always been on the to-do list for Spencer and Abby Palmer Cox, service, kindness, and hard work are among the traits that qualify them for their current positions. Their rural upbringing and experiences, including their time spent at Snow College, played an immeasurable role in the development of these qualities.

The Coxes both grew up in Sanpete County – Spencer in Fairview, and Abby in Mt. Pleasant. They make it a priority to stay close to their rural roots. In fact, for the two terms that Spencer served as Lieutenant Governor, Abby and Spencer chose to live and raise their children in Fairview, with Spencer making a daily four-hour, round-trip commute to Salt Lake City. While being full-time Fairview residents is not an option now, they spend weekends at home, whenever possible.

After graduating from North Sanpete High, Spencer and Abby both attended Snow College. Spencer, who graduated a year before Abby, attended Snow for a year before serving a mission to Mexico for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Abby attended and graduated from Snow during the time of Spencer’s mission, and then Spencer returned and completed his Snow College education.

Spencer and Abby credit their Snow College experiences with shaping who they are today. “I just think it’s impossible to overstate the influence that Snow had on us,” Spencer said. “As young kids that had no idea what we were going to do with our lives, it was just the next step for us, and it was a really important step. The people that influenced us, the friends that we met there, the professors, the administration, at a small place that maybe doesn’t get the attention it deserves, it certainly impacted us, and we will be forever grateful.”

Spencer’s participation in the Honors Program remains a highlight of his Snow College experience. “We had these really small classes with some of the best professors and some of the best students. They challenged me … and I loved that,” he said. From studying at Utah State University and Washington and Lee University School of Law to selecting his current cabinet, he has sought out and created opportunities to replicate that experience, interacting with small groups of “really bright people who challenge me and make me better.”

For Abby, Snow College provided her with the academic confidence she felt she was lacking after high school. After graduating from Snow, she attended Utah State University, receiving a bachelor’s degree in special education with a dual emphasis in early childhood and severe disabilities. Abby’s passion for special education began in elementary school, where she befriended students with disabilities who were in her classes, and this passion continues. One of the four components of the First Lady’s new “Show Up” Initiative is Unified Sports, a program developed by the Special Olympics that joins students with and without intellectual disabilities on the same school sports teams.

The three additional areas of the First Lady’s Initiative, which was launched in Spring 2021, are social and emotional learning for students and educators, foster care, and service. Although service is its own category, service projects will be incorporated into each focus area. The first service project under the Initiative was the creation of thank you kits for Utah’s 1,500 foster and kinship families.

A primary goal of the Initiative is to develop empathy and connection throughout Utah, especially with youth and children. Abby stated: “We are in an empathy crisis … and especially as we come out of this pandemic, we need to give each other some grace, we need to connect with people with disabilities to create empathy, we need to have empathy and connection to our most vulnerable children – our foster children, and we certainly need to connect to make sure that teachers have the emotional intelligence for themselves as well as for their students, and the best way we can connect and create empathy in our world is through service.”

This attention to empathy and understanding has always been part of the Governor’s and First Lady’s mission. They want to rise above the negativity in the current political climate and help others do the same. “We … focus on the good things that are happening in the state. It’s really easy to get caught up in [the negativity], but … we remain optimistic because of the goodness that we see, and we have a front-row seat for that, too, every day,” Spencer said.

As Governor and First Lady, Spencer and Abby make interacting with Utahns a priority, and they truly enjoy it. Spencer recounted speaking at a recent event for about 500 young adults: “After we finished speaking, we spent about an hour and a half just shaking hands and talking to them, one by one, as they came up. And to hear their stories and to hear the things that they’re doing in their lives … that energized me.”

Through her “First Lady and Friends” podcast, Abby shares the stories of people she has met and friends she has made. A phrase Abby often uses on the podcast, “Let’s get proximate,” emphasizes her focus on making deep connections with people, especially those with different backgrounds and experiences. As she stated on the podcast, “When we hear people’s actual lived experiences, it opens our minds to an empathy that we didn’t know we could have.”

The Coxes are passing on the lessons learned through public service to their four children: Gavin (22), Kaleb (20), Adam (18), and Emma Kate (14). “More than anything, we’ve used this [experience] to try to help them connect with people that are different from them,” Spencer said. “We want them to have those experiences serving refugees and our friends who are experiencing homelessness and having some of those real unique service opportunities.” In their free time, the family enjoys being outdoors, hiking, and traveling.

Although the Coxes mention no concrete plans for life after the governorship, one thing is certain: A potential second term would be the end of their political career. Regardless of what a future in the private sector holds, they will measure their success as Governor and First Lady by how they’ve been able to apply the lessons first learned and developed in Sanpete County. “If we show a way forward through service and kindness and empathy,” Abby said, “we will have done a good job.”