Cook Family History: Tributes to Cleo Earl Cook #6

Tribute to Cleo Earl Cook

by his son

George Kay Cook

When I think of the times I shared with my Daddy, I think of a quiet, gentle patient, understanding, loving and supportive man that I loved very much. In relating some of my memories of Daddy, I thought I would tell of some things that show these traits.

The quiet gentleness of Daddy showed through when he was with his grandchildren. One of the pictures of Dad that I remember was one of the grandkids standing on the seat next to grandpa in his pickup. I was still living at home and can remember the way he would talk about his grandkids. Even a short before he passed away, he went to Max and Joyce’s to stay with their children while Mike was attended by the doctors. I have always felt bad that my own children didn’t get to stand on that pickup seat by the side of their grandpa.

Kay and Cleo

I remember another time of gentleness in my Daddy’s life. We were fishing on lower Camas just outside of Dubois. We were sitting on the bank of the Creek, and I found a salmon egg bottle half buried in the mud. I pulled the bottle out of the mud and noticed a piece of paper inside. I opened the bottle and took out the piece of folded paper. On this paper was written Cleo Cook and Bill Wilson and it had a date on it. Bill Wilson was Dad’s good friend and fishing buddy and had passed away about a year before. The writing on the paper was Bill’s writing. Dad took the paper and read it. I heard one sob, almost like a hiccup, and big tears rolled down my Daddy’s checks. He put the bottle in his pocket and neither of us said a word.

Kay and Cleo

I only remember hearing my Dad swear once and that was in defending one of his children. Darrell had a fender bender when he backed into a car at the Idaho Falls City Cemetery. Darrell had come down to pick me up and had backed into a car causing very minor damage. The owner of the car called Dad and told him all sorts of things Darrell was supposed to have been doing and how much terrible damage there was to his car. Dad very calmly listened and then said, “Mr. Buck, that’s a damn lie. You’ll have to deal with my insurance company.” Then he hung up and phone and said nothing more about the incident.

Cleo and Darrell

I remember Dad’s patience and understanding as one of his strongest traits. How many tangles in my fishing lines did Dad untangle with never an unkind word? I remember having a closed faced casting reel. I would get the line tangled inside that reel over and over and Dad would quietly untangle me and get me ready to start fishing again. I remember on one occasion I was casting out my line and I didn’t know Dad had come up behind me. I was probably 7 or 8. I brought back my pole over my shoulder and with a mighty cast aimed for a spot on the creek. The pole stopped and the line didn’t fly out into the creek. As I turned around to see what the problem was, there stood Dad with my hook stuck in his cheek. I felt horrible and started to cry. He somehow got the hook out of his cheek and told me it was alright and not to cry. He didn’t yell or scold. He simply calmed me down and we went back to fishing. I know now that it must have really hurt but he was more concerned with me. Another incident very similar to his happened when I was much older. We were walking through some brush on Upper Camas when I turned around to ask a question and stuck my pole right in Dad’s eye. He jumped back and told me to be more careful, but he never got mad or upset with me.

Cleo and Darrell

When I was 12 years old Dad was very ill and in the hospital. Darrell and I were left home that summer a lot. Mom would go up to the hospital to see Dad. One day Darrell and I stated playing with Dad’s shotgun. In the process we took all the buckshot out of one of the 12 gauge shells and loaded it into the gun. Darrell then shot a hole in Mom and Dad’s bed. We were scared and decided at first to run away. We realized that wouldn’t work. We both knew that Mom had a good temper and we didn’t want to tell her. We decided our best bet lay with Dad because he usually didn’t get very upset. I called Dad’s hospital room and Mom answered. When I asked to talk with Dad, she asked, “Why? What have you guys done?” I finally persuaded her to let me talk to Dad. When I explained what had happened, he asked if anyone was hurt. I told him no and then there was a long silence. He finally spoke and asked if we had learned a lesson, and I told him we sure had. He then said, “I will talk to your Mother. Everything will be alright.” Darrell and I both dreaded all day long the return of Mother. When she did come home, she walked straight to the bedroom, looked at the bed, and said, “Good hell! There goes $200.00 in bedding.” She turned around and told us that our father had talked to her and told her that we had learned our lesson and that she would say no more. Dad must have understood how we felt.

Kay, Joyce, Darrell

I can’t think of Daddy without thinking of how he supported me in baseball and softball. When I was playing little league, Dad was in the hospital and couldn’t come to my games. I remember that after each game Darrell and I would get a phone call from the hospital asking us about our game and how we had done. All through my experience of playing church softball Dad was a part of it. He was either our coach or our most loyal supporter. I only remember him missing one church game and even that was a result of his support. One of our players was working at Fresh Pak on the night shift. He had to work on the night of one of our games. My Dad also worked at Fresh Pak and had made arrangements to go in and work for this ballplayer so he could make the game. No one on the team forgot that Dad did that for us and at the end of the year they gave him a shirt and made him an honorary member of our team.

Darrell and Kay

Some of my fondest memories are as a teenager sitting on the foot of Mom and Dad’s bed talking to them. They both would listen patiently and then encourage me and strengthen me with their words. Dad would give me his quiet advice and tell me he loved me. It was these words of love that helped me through my teenage years. It was these gentle words of love that made me want to always make my Daddy proud of me. I have missed these gentle words and I have missed my Daddy. I look forward to the time I can embrace him again and express my love and gratitude for being the “Greatest Dad.”

Kay, Cleo, Darrell

My last memory of Daddy is Christmas Day 1972. Carla and I spent Christmas morning with Dad, Mom, and Darrell. We were leaving t go down to Salt Lake City. Carla’s Mom and Dad were taking us to California for the holidays. We had told Mom and Darrell goodbye and had gone outside to tell Daddy goodbye. He was just coming out of the garage with a bucket of feed for the cow. He put the bucket down, gave us both big hugs and told us to be careful. That was the last time I saw my Daddy. A couple of days later we received a phone call in California from Cindy telling us Daddy had passed away. I’m grateful that I had the privilege of being Cleo Earl Cook’s son. If I can only be a fraction of the father that my Dad was then I will consider myself successful. Daddy I will always love you.