Jerry Donald Cook

During his senior year at Poly High, Don was sent to Washington D.C. for a student government seminar. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s words, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” he decided to work in the nation’s capital after graduation from college.

Don attended Texas A&M, graduating in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics degree. Later in his career, he received master’s degrees in Public Administration from American University in Washington D.C. and Harvard University’s Kennedy School.

In 1963, Don married Dottie Bruce of Waco, whom he met while at Texas A&M and she was an undergraduate at Baylor University. Dottie and Don had two daughters, Kelly and Rebecca.

Don’s first civilian job was as an entry-level placement assistant for the U.S. Employment Service, where he shuffled papers and tried to figure out what next. There was a deli down the street from Don’s office. Every day he bought the egg salad sandwich and Coke lunch special for 99 cents, and ate at the counter while dreaming about his illustrious career in government. Eventually, Don worked at NASA, the Peace Corp and the Environmental Protection Agency, where he supervised an EPA division working to combat acid rain. In the 1970s, Don was a Congressional intern in the office of U.S. Rep. J.J. “Jake” Pickle, D-TX., who many years later would become Don’s father-in-law.

In 1963, Don joined the D.C. National Guard, and was sent for pilot training in North Carolina, Lubbock and Phoenix. While Don was training in Phoenix, his mother visited the base. Eva Cook was a tiny lady, barely 5’ tall. Don boosted her up the ladder of a fighter jet parked on the tarmac. She surveyed the dozens of gauges and levers in the cockpit and asked, “Oh my, do you know what all these instruments are for?” Don laughed and said, “Well yeah, Ma, I do.” Like any practical mother, Eva replied, “Oh, no you don’t!”

When facing approval for flight duty, Don’s instructor advised him, “Slouch down or they’re gonna reject you.” At 6’3” Don was technically too tall for the cockpit. But during the Viet Nam war, little things like the possibility of being decapitated during ejection was often overlooked. He passed.

In 1968, Don was called up during the Pueblo crisis, and spent a year as a fighter pilot in South Korea flying the F-100 jet. He was an atypical fighter pilot because instead of being aggressive or combative, he was reflective and calm. But he had the Right Stuff.

After serving in South Korea, he continued his service with the D.C. National Guard for 9 years. One night while on a routine patrol off the North Carolina coast, Don and his co-pilot chased a fast-moving brilliant light that easily out-paced their jet, then suddenly zoomed straight up and out-of-sight. Don wondered about that UFO for the rest of his life.

He was called to riot duty during the 1971 March on Washington protesting the war in Viet Nam. Although Don opposed the war, he felt obligated to serve when called to duty. The next morning, Captain Donald Cook’s picture appeared on the front page of the “New York Times” as he and other Air Force officers marched into the stadium housing protestors. Ten years later, an article Don wrote about the experience was published in the (now defunct) “Washington Star” newspaper.

Don and Dottie divorced in 1978. In 1989, Don retired from the Environmental Protection Agency, moved back to Texas, and married Peggy Pickle of Austin, who had a daughter, Bergan.

Don’s marriage to Peggy put him in the middle of a political family. Whenever his father-in-law, Jake Pickle, was planning a family project such as his arrivals as Santa on Christmas Day, Don was Jake’s good-natured accomplice. No one who saw him could forget Don dressed as Santa’s elf in too-tight ski pants and pointy-toed slippers. On another occasion, Don appeared as a giant Peter Rabbit at an Easter-week bridal luncheon. Donald was born without an embarrassment gene.

In Austin, Don worked for the General Land Office, and later as a cancer educator with the U.T.-M.D. Anderson Health Science Center in Smithville, Texas. His job was to educate the community about the causes, research and cures for cancer. He relished the job because of the science and medicine he felt privileged to learn. The Health Science Center had an early gene sequencing machine, so Don was thrilled to learn about DNA markers. He retired from M.D. Anderson in 2006.

When Don and Peggy worked as volunteers during the influx of refugees who streamed into Austin after Hurricane Karina, Don decided he wanted to be professionally involved in emergencies affecting Texas. He joined the Texas State Guard, and served for nine-and-a-half years, retiring in 2016 with the rank of Lt. Col.

Don was a brainy, well-read guy who knew a lot about many things, but never acted intellectually superior. He could tell you how cancer cells metastasized or what the day’s cloud formations said about tomorrow’s weather. He had many interests, including reading, collecting and dancing with Peggy. On the dance floor, Don’s specialty was the “twinkle step.”

In 1989, Don and his brother, Rowland Cook, restored the 1929 Model A Ford Roadster which their father bought his kids in the mid-1950s for $50. For decades, Donald and Rowland drove the gorgeous roadster, re-painted its original color of ‘Arabian Sand,’ in the Tarrytown 4th of July parade.

In addition to his full-time career, Don was the proprietor of Jerry Don’s Cowboy Collectibles in Smithville, Texas. His inventory included Western, Country, Mexican and Guatemalan items, and he was always on the hunt. Often, Don found the need to buy another saddle or rope “just in case.”

Don belonged to the Rotary Club of Austin, Longhorn Flight Daedalians, Capitol City Village, Austin Bookmen, The Dance Club and the Headliners Club. Don’s volunteer work included being a Boy Scout troop leader, serving on multiple environmental and educational committees, and mentoring students through Seedling Austin.

Kelly and Rebecca remember Don as an environmentalist before it was cool. When they were little girls and hiked or camped with their father, he insisted that they pick up every piece of trash they found in the woods or along the roadside.

Don was a lifelong Democrat whose liberal political views often clashed with those of his military buddies and A&M classmates. When asked if he wanted to be interred in his birth city, Dallas, he said, “ Bury me in Austin. It’s my kind of town.”

Donald was pre-deceased by his parents and a sister, Carolyn Cook Quattlebaum. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Peggy Pickle of Austin, his daughters, Kelly Cook Newman and her husband, Kyle, of Dallas; his daughter, Rebecca Cook Wallace and her husband, Robert, of Allen, Texas; by his brother, Rowland Cook and his wife, Diane Ireson, of Austin; his stepdaughter, Bergan Casey and son-in-law, Stan Casey of Austin, and grandchildren Mike Lopinto, Alex Newman, Christina Lopinto, Collin Newman and Peyton Casey, as well as nieces, nephews and cousins.

One of the many wonderful things about Don was his dry sense of humor. His quips were right on target. But his humor was never hurtful to other people; he was incapable of being mean or petty. Donald was a kind, smart, generous and humorous man who was dearly loved and will be greatly missed.

A Celebration of Life will be held Sunday, January 15th at 2 p.m. at Weed Corley Fish Funeral Home Parkcrest, 5416 Parkcrest Drive, Austin.

Memorials may be to the Austin Public Library Foundation (512) 542-0076, Austin PBS/KLRU (737-707-3370) and Hospice Austin (512) 342-4700.