Waldo F. Cook
February 16, 2002

Waldo F. Cook, 82, 1707 North 12th, Quincy, formerly of 2024 State died Saturday, February 16, 2002 at 12:40 pm in the Illinois Veterans Home where he had resided since 1998.

He was born May 17, 1919 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, the son of James H. and Susan Fuller Cook, one of ten children. On December 28, 1942, he married Rita Kathmann in Quincy, Illinois. She survives.

Mr. Cook graduated in 1937 from Sinking Fork High School in Kentucky, where he played basketball. During his senior year, with Cook the team captain and high point man; Sinking Fork won the district tournament and two games in the regional tournament, finally losing to Shady Grove. After graduation Cook attended the Chillicothe Business College, in Chillicothe, Missouri, where he became proficient in bookkeeping, typing, and shorthand. He worked for the American Agricultural Chemical Company in St. Louis, traveling through Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois, including a trip to Quincy in 1939. In June 1941 he joined the Navy as a Yeoman Third Class, assigned to recruiting duty. Positions were open in Jefferson City, Moberly, and Quincy, and Cook, remembering his drive down Maine Street in 1939, requested Quincy.

Mr. Cook was a Navy recruiter in the old Post Office building at Eighth and Hampshire at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. He went in at 7:00 am on December 8th and worked continuously for more than 24 hours. People were lined up from the second floor office out into the hall, down the steps, and onto the sidewalk, trying to join the Navy. Cook was featured in a Quincy Herald-Whig article on the fiftieth anniversary of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1991.

After the war Mr. Cook worked as an insurance adjuster for the Livingstone Adjustment Service, first in Springfield and then in Quincy. In 1951 he formed his own adjusting firm, Cook Claims Service, which over the years had offices in the Pollock building on North Sixth Street, the Blackstone Building, and finally the W. C. U. Building, Cook was active in Cub scouting, and received the Silver Beaver Award in 1969. He coached Midget League baseball teams. He was very much interested in history, particularly that of the Civil War. Cook's grandfather, Isaac Cook, a Union soldier, was wounded at Fort Donelson February 16, 1862, and Isaac's two brothers were killed. One of Mr. Cook's many interests was oil painting, especially paintings he did of his children and grandchildren. Mr. Cook was of the Roman Catholic faith and has been a member of St. Peter's Church since its relocation to 26th and Maine Streets.

Survivors in addition to his wife are 5 children, Justice Robert Cook and his wife Fran, Quincy; Victoria Cook Krueger and her husband Frank, Brentwood, TN; John Cook and his wife Margie, Vienna, Austria; James Cook and his wife Bernie, Fairview Heights, Illinois; Elizabeth Cook Smelcer and her husband Ken, Fort Worth, Texas; 12 grandchildren, Major Michael Lwin, U>S>A>, and his wife Beth, Fayetteville, NC, Mark Lwin and his wife Rebecca, Birmingham, AL, Brian Cook, New York, NY, Greg Cook and his wife Casey, St. Louis, MO, Julie Cook, Boston, MA, Rob Cook, Maroa, Illinois, Eric Cook, Chicago, IL, Jenny Cook Ellison and her husband Dennis, Morton, IL, Chris Cook, San Antonio, TX, Erin Cook, Fairview Hts, IL, Timothy Wellman and Adam Smelcer, both of Fort Worth, TX; two great grandchildren, Calley Mya Lwin, Fayetteville and Theda Michelle Lwin, Birmingham, AL.

Funeral Services will be held Thursday, February 21, 2002 at 9:30 am in the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home and at 10:00 am in St. Peter's Catholic Church, Rev. Roy Bauer officiating. Burial in Calvary Cemetery, Quincy, Illinois. The family will receive friends from 4-8 pm Wednesday at the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home. A Wake Service will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Memorial contributions may be made to Markword Second Floor Activity Fund at the Illinois Veterans Home.

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