Thaine Walter Cook Sr.

He was born on March 3, 1917 near Auburn Nebraska, the tenth of fourteen children born to Theo Fred Cook and Ona Mirth Horn Cook. He used to say that he had eight brothers and four sisters; each of his brothers had eight brothers and four sisters also. He was a Christian, son, brother, husband, father, grand father, great grandfather, great great grandfather, uncle, great uncle, friend neighbor, and probably many more things.

He was a complicated person who was many things to many different people, but he was loved by all of the people that knew him. He was a story teller and would often recite stories of things that he and his brothers did while growing up on the farm as well as experiences from his 97 years of life.

He eloped with Elisabeth May Durkee when he was 21 and she was only 15.

They lived together for over 73 years. He is survived by his two sons Walt and Dennis, two daughters-in-law Marilyn and Peggy, five grandchildren Greg, Michael, Richard, Gretchen Dankenbring, and Josh, six great-grandchildren Monica, Brandon, Colby, Terrie, Thaine and Jackson, and one great-great-granddaughter, Caylee.

Thaine and Elisabeth’s early life together was one of hard times and hard work. Thaine worked as a farm hand, a stockman, milkman and helping Boeing build B29 bombers before settling down as a railroader. He worked for the Santa Fe Railroad first as a Fireman then as an Engineer. He retired after over 30 years of working for Santa Fe and collected retirement for 37 years. He made the highest score on the engineer’s exam that had been made. He was known to remark that he didn’t miss a day of work from the time that they were married until he retired.

After retirement he and his wife moved form Kansas to a rural home near Grangerland, Texas. This allowed them to be near their grandchildren and for Thaine to have a few acres of land and have his horse. He was able to enjoy having a tractor and a horse which reminded him of his life growing up on a farm.

Their home was a favorite destination for all of their grandchildren with friends in tow where many happy times were had hiking, camping, horseback riding, doing crafts, and all of the other great things that make for wonderful memories. Thaine was a very loving and caring granddad. He would do whatever he could to share the happy times with his grandchildren.

In 1994 their home in Grangerland was flooded and they moved to Forest Cove where Thaine was often seen riding his scooter, with Beth also riding hers.

Family was important to Thaine. He was a dutiful son caring for both of his parents for a period of time in their latter years. He kept in touch with his brothers, sisters, many of his nieces, nephews, and great nieces and great nephews. He was loved by all of them.

He was honored by many people coming to his 90th birthday party, which turned into a family reunion. He quoted Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to the amazement of all present showing the sharpness of his mind.

Thaine was physically active and mentally sharp all of his life. He lived alone, after his wife’s passing in 2012, and moved into an assisted living facility about one year before his death.

The following was written by his grandson Josh.

A Day with Granddad

The day began as any other would, the bright morning sun permeating my roaming room. I awoke to the aroma of fresh pancakes and warm syrup, which would satiate even the hungriest beast, and followed my nose into the kitchen where I was greeted by a plate of breakfast treats ranging from pancakes and beacon to eggs and sausage. Here stood, the one who made my days complete, my Granddad. My Granddad always seemed to saturate my longing with love and a unique feeling of “special.” His round torso and a matching head held in them enough excitement for ten kids. A little light on top and shiny, he seemed to shine with joy when he saw you. His baggy jeans and worn out shirt seemed to hold in their extra space a little spot where he would hide you and take away the pain. From head to toe he was a medicine cabinet with medications not to heal the physical but to erase the mental. His warm “Good morning, Joshua” could provide the heat on the coldest days and he would always smile when my replies were less than audible. “So what’ll it be today?” he would ask in his enthusiastic inviting voice rang in my ear for years to come. After breakfast his goal would be to make my day enjoyable. He would ask “Hey buddy, how’d ya like to go ride the tractor?” After receiving always a positive answer he knew would follow he would go out to the barn and crank the all but soft purring engine of the 1932 tractor and await his little tractor a driver to join him in is search for a new adventure. The late morning and early afternoon would bleed with excitement for his young, interested, and sometimes naïve grandson who would only hope to see something new today. The early afternoon rang with the lunch bell telling us that the adventure was over, for the time being anyway. We would reluctantly ride home and eat a spaghetti feast, that being my favorite food next to pancakes and then like two small children instead of one, would race out to the tractor to see what other feats of magic lay in the surrounding woods. Searching high and low we discovered the environment of all walks of life including fish that we couldn’t eat because Granddad wouldn’t let me. Our day would end with board games and the “Dukes of Hazard“and finally bedtime. Always a story, always a kiss, always love. Although he did nothing spectacular or wasn’t rich, he always provided me a unique and special life that no one else could comprehend, erase, or even come close to matching.

Thaine wrote the following which was presented at the funeral of his sister-in-law Ruth Cook’s funeral. I think his own words speak best to describe how he felt about God.

RUTH A CHRISTIAN

Last July I was in a hospital, seriously ill in walked a tall hansom, athletic type young man caring a new looking bible. There were many markers fastened to different pages by which he could readily find desired scriptures. The man asked me to call him reverend ”Q”. He asked if he could come in and visit. I welcomed him and we visited for a bit and he asked me if God had ever come into my life. I said that he had and that I not been one to God.

The man asked me if he could say a prayer and I said “yes”. He then read scriptures from the bible after which he placed his finger tips together and leaned back. He said “Mr. Cook, I am going to say a prayer and as I do you are going to say a prayer and God will come into your heart, just like that.” Snapping his fingers and he leaned back and prayed. I didn’t answer him and I didn’t pray. After asking if he could come back on the morrow he left.

The next day he did come back and I asked him if he was ready to hear a sermon and he answered yes and for fifteen or twenty minutes he heard a sermon about how God comes into people’s heart and what a Christian was.

I told him that God is not brought into people’s hearts by someone quoting scriptures but by living in the real world and that I had fifty years, or more of living than he had. I told him of some of my experiences as a young boy. I told him about my three year old grandson who had climbed onto the lap of a grieving neighbor who had lost a child. He put his arms around her neck and said, “I will be your little boy.” I told him that that little boy is now a minister serving God by working with the poor and homeless street people. I told him about others who had lived their lives as Christians. And then I talked to him about Ruth. I told him that she and Earl had been blessed with two beautiful children, with different needs and how these children had been raised to be Christians and that her grandchildren were also raised to be Christians and it was easy for me to talk to him about Ruth. It was easy for me to talk about Christians.

I believe that a Christian is one who keeps covenant with God. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. When we are baptized and Immersed in water to wash away our sins the minister ask us if we accept Jesus as our savior and dedicate our lives to God and we answer “Yes” that is a covenant between us and God. God never violates that covenant with us, most of us do.

Ruth was true to her covenant with God. I believe that when Ruth had problems she went in prayer and that her prayers were answered and that she accepted the will of God without question.

I never saw Ruth pray, yet I know that she prayed. “By their fruits you shall know them.” I know the Ruth prayed because there was always that aura of peace and confidence about her, an emanation of assurance. Ruth never doubted that heaven was her home. She exalted in knowing God as a partner and guide in all that she did.

There is a phrase in the Lord’s Prayer “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Many times some of us trespassed on Ruth’s feelings and her beliefs as a human being. Ruth forgave those of us who trespassed. There is no one among us who can honestly say that we were not greeted with a smile and sincere welcome from her. I never knew Ruth to complain all though I know that there were times in her life that were trying and hearth breaking and I know that she went to the Lord in prayer. I believe that she accepted God’s will after prayer and was comforted. Ruth kept her covenant with God. Ruth is a Christian. I feel humble in the presence of Ruth a Christian.

Thaine liked to following poem by William Randolph Hearst and asked that it be read at his funeral.

The snow melts on the mountain

And the water runs down the spring,

And the spring in a turbulent fountain,

With a song of youth to sing,

Runs down to the riotous river,

And the river flows onto the sea,

And the water again

Goes back to rain

To the hills where it used to be.

And I wonder if Life’s deep mystery

Isn’t much like the rain and the snow

Returning through all eternity

To places it used to know.

For life was born on the lofty heights

And lows in a laughing stream

To the river below

Whose onward flow

Ends in a peaceful dream,

And so at last,

When our life has passed

And the river has run its course,

It again goes back,

To the mountain which was its source.

So why prize life

Or why fear death,

Or dread what is to be?

The river ran its allotted span

Till it’s reached the silent sea,

Then the water harked back

To the Mountaintop

To begin it’s course once more.

So we shall run the course begun

Till we reach the silent shore,

Then revisit earth in a pure rebirth

From the heart of the virgin snow,

So don’t ask why we live or die,

Or whiter, or when we go,

Or wonder about the mysteries

That only God may know.