| Obituary |
- Gladys Beatrice Cook, wife, mother and philosopher, died Feb. 7, 2006, at 93, from old age. She was ready to meet her Lord and He saw fit to reward her love and faithfulness with a kind and peaceful death.
Gladys was the youngest daughter of Herman and Christine Kessler Heimke. She was born on Oct. 20, 1912, on a farm in Oconto County, Wis. When she was five years old, she moved with her mother and father to Kaukauna, Wis. She graduated from Kaukauna High School in 1930. She was the salutatorian of her high school class.
She wanted to be a nurse and was accepted to nursing school in Denver, but family circumstances called her to stay at home to assist with the care of her father who was in ill health.
A few years later she graduated from the Springate Business School in Oshkosh, Wis. Following her graduation, she worked for the Shaler Company in Waupun, Wis. There she met a young teacher, Berns W. Cook.
On Aug. 30, 1938, they were married in Omro, Wis., and moved to Oshkosh in 1939. In 1945 they bought a home in Oshkosh and lived in that home until 2003.
After raising their family of four children, Gladys worked in the offices of the Oshkosh City Hall and the Fox Valley Technical Institute. Following their retirement, Berns and Gladys enjoyed their life of camping and traveling throughout the entire United States. They finally settled into becoming winter Texans in the Rio Grande Valley, always returning to their Oshkosh home when the snow melted.
As old age crept into her life, she spent the last few years with her husband, in residence at Gabriel's Villa assisted living residence. Gladys was a 60-year member of Martin Luther Evangelical Lutheran Church and a member of their ladies guild.
She is survived by her husband of 67 years, Berns; and their four children, Daniel of Tacoma, Wash., Timothy (Cathy) of Butte des Morts, Thomas (Mary) of Oshkosh and Lois (John) D'Aleo of Pullman, Wash. She is also survived by her eight grandchildren, Stephanie Cook Arnold, David Cook, Carrie Nolde, Craig Cook, Mathew and Aaron Cook, and Giana and Raina D'Aleo; and by four great-grandchildren. Ruth Rammer of Neenah, Wis., her childhood friend and maid of honor, also survives her.
Gladys was preceded in death by her three sisters, Luella Heimke, Irene Krueger and Blanche Borchardt.
Services for Gladys will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006, at Martin Luther Church, Oshkosh. A brief entombment service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday morning, Feb. 13.
Visitation will be from 1 p.m. until the time of the service on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006, at the church.
In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established at Martin Luther.
We want to thank our mother for all she thought, said, and did for her family. She had an incredible breadth and depth of wisdom, spirit, courage, and inner strength. She openly shared those gifts with her family, and for that we are grateful. In the last few years she was physically limited by her infirmities; nevertheless, those attributes continued to be displayed daily in her life until the end. She was an inspiration to us all to live the God-fearing life.
Konrad-Behlman Funeral Home, Oshkosh, (920) 231-1510, is serving the family.
The Reporter; Fond du Lac, Wis. [Fond du Lac, Wis]10 Feb 2006: A.7.
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1912 - 2006 (93 years)
1920 Census
