Terry Eugene Cook

Terry was bright and witty, and had a near eidetic memory, often amazing the family with recalled details. He was a kind and generous man, eager to help. His primary activity in his last years was assisting his ailing father and stepmother, Norman and Gloria, a great boon to them and giving the rest of the family, living in other parts of the country, greater peace of mind about Norman's and Gloria's circumstances. Additionally, in recent years Terry developed a keen interest in coin collecting and amassed an impressive and diverse collection. Those who knew Terry universally commented "He was a good hearted person".

Terry was born in the small western Kansas town of Hays on May 23, 1950. He spent most of his first two years in Caracas, Venezuela where his father Norman was working for a predecessor of Mobil Oil. The family moved back to the United States to Topeka, Kansas when he was two and he spent his early years through high school in Topeka. He swam competitively from age 7 and was a high school football player, wrestler and golfer.

He graduated from Topeka High in 1968 near the top of his class and went on to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Mass. There he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and played on the lacrosse team though he had never seen a game of lacrosse before reaching college. He finished his civil engineering degree at Kansas University and from there joined the civil engineering firm Cook, Flatt & Strobel in Topeka. But as an independent spirit he left after three years to take a position as City Engineer in Miles City, Montana.

Later Terry moved to Phoenix where his father Norman had retired and spent the rest of his career with two national civil engineering firms headquartered in Phoenix, HNTB and Stanley Consultants. At Stanley, from which he retired in late 2014, Terry led the CAD/CAM operations team. He assisted Norman and Gloria until they passed away in 2016 and was looking forward to moving to a new area of the country before his untimely passing. Comments and remembrances are welcome at the DignityMemorial.com website.