George Bradley (Brad) Cook – New Testament Church

In memory of George Bradley (Brad) Cook

Gift: $250.00

By: Peggy Cook / Carolann Cook / David Risener

Obituary

Ulogy 1:

Eulogy By Daughter Carolann Cook

Thank you all, for coming today. For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Carolann, Brad’s oldest daughter. I’d also like to think that I’m his favorite daughter. Peggy and I have an ongoing battle as to who the favorite daughter is. Something that was instilled in us, by our very own father. He used to address a message to both of us with “To My Favorite Daughter, and the other one”. While I clearly knew which one was which, it gave my sister some hope. Dad saw how much we competed for his love and used it to his full advantage. He’d let us know that if one or the other would complete a given task, like pick him up some milk on the way over, that daughter would get points towards Daughter of the Month. We always knew he wasn’t serious, but that’s what we loved about him. We loved his dry sense of humor.

Most of you knew my Dad from different aspects in his life. Some of you didn’t get a chance to meet him, but you’re here, showing your support for my sister and me. Either way, we thank you for being here from the bottom of our hearts. Regardless of how you knew my Dad, I would like to take a step back, and present him to you from my eyes. From a little girl’s eyes, who were filled with wonder as her dad held her hand as they explored different places. From my eyes now, that see him as the strongest, funniest, most caring man in my life. He was a man who could take on the world.

My Dad, was a legend. Just so you know, if you ever shook my Dad’s hand, you may have shook the hand of the last person to have rung the Liberty Bell. Now, when my Dad told me this story when I was a kid, he was as shocked as I was to realize his name wasn’t in my history book. Dad was born and raised in Philadelphia. When he was in third grade, he went on a field trip to see the Liberty bell. If you’ve been there the past 20 or 30 years, you’ll know that its housed in the front of the building, surrounded by red rope stanchions. But it wasn’t like that back in the 40s. In the 40s, it was kept by the stairwell. And Dad said he couldn’t help himself. It was sitting right there, and he wanted to know what it sounded like. He climbed a few stairs, leaned over and grabbed hold of the clapper, and he let it go. He said the only reason he got caught, was because he was the only one running away from the sound. Everyone else was shocked frozen. He said when the guard grabbed him and said “Son, what do you think would happen if everyone just rang that bell?” In true Dad fashion, he responded with “Well it would probably be really loud in here…” There’s that dry sense of humor.

Even at a young age, Dad had a love for history. That was the one point of contention between us. I couldn’t stand history class. But what I’ve realized is that it’s not that I don’t like history, it’s that reading it in a book, is nothing compared to the light in my Dad’s eyes, when he was telling us a story. For me, history was seeing it, being a part of it. So he really only had himself to blame for my lack of interest in class. How do you compete with the real thing? When I was in 5th grade, I had to do a report on the Declaration of Independence. I went to Dad and said “I need your help with this.” He asked when it was due. I told him next week. He said “Ok, pack your bags, we’re going to Philly this weekend”. My sister and I got to go, and he took us to where they kept George Washington’s Rising Sun Chair, the Liberty Bell, and the State Capitol, where they kept the Declaration of Independence. Working for TWA, my dad got travel benefits, which meant we got to fly all around the country and explore different cities. We were so lucky we were able to experience these things. It’s like Dad had the world in the palm of his hand.

Growing up, Dad never doubted me. He was proud of the things I had accomplished, and pushed me to keep growing. He saw a love of aviation and nurtured it. On my 13th birthday, he took me to the Downtown airport’s air traffic control tower. They had an open house and my sister and I went up. We got to see the equipment and listen to the interactions between the controllers and pilots. I was amazed. When we got back in the car, I looked over at him and said “Dad, I want to be a pilot”. And he said “ok”. I went to flight school when I was 18, but what they don’t tell you is that it costs over 100K to become a professional pilot. I got my private pilot’s license but couldn’t afford to continue. When I had to leave school, I was so ashamed. I felt like I let myself down and I let my Dad down. I actually didn’t tell him for a month that I had to quit. I was so scared of what he was going to say. But I finally called him, and I told him what happened. Instead of being mad or disappointed, he said “I’m proud of you. I’m proud of what you’ve done. If you need to come home, come home.” He was there for me.

I did come home, and that transitioned me into a job that I love, as an Aircraft Mechanic. And Dad stood by me. When I graduated and got a job, he didn’t hesitate to help me get the tools I needed. My favorite part of my day was when something exciting happened at work, and I could share it with him. He loved hearing about my job, even though it kept me away from him. One of the best decisions I ever made was to move home. I didn’t tell him this, but part of me wanted to be near him again. And now I’m going to miss being at my Dad’s and telling him about different things. My Dad was a huge sports fan, and I remember how excited he got when I sent him pictures of the planes owned by the Texas Rangers, or the Boston Red Sox that my team and I got to work on.

He introduced me to so many of the things he loved. Dad used to take us to baseball games, and while Peggy and I would eat peanuts and watch the game, Dad would have his headphones in, listening to the commentators on AM radio. He loved baseball. He played for so many years in a league, and could spout off any rule in a heartbeat. When I was home, I got to listen to him commentate on the game… and then 10 seconds later, the actual commentators would say the same thing. We always joked that his house was bugged and they were getting their script from him. We used to spend hours playing Texas Hold’em together at free tournaments, and the smack talking between the two of us is something I will never forget and miss dearly. If I got too big for my britches, and thought I was going to win a hand, Dad wouldn’t hesitate to throw down a bigger hand, and make me eat my words.

We found out about the cancer in March. And while it had spread, we had high hopes that the radiation would begin to help. Dad hadn’t been able to swallow solid food for 4 months. But he never complained. He used to cook Peggy and me dinner every week. And now he couldn’t eat. But he continued to move forward. When he went into the hospital for what we thought was a pretty routine procedure, things took a turn. But he never quit. He never stopped fighting. He showed us what a true hero was. He was someone that took life by the horns and didn’t stop. If he wanted to see something, he went there. If he wanted to try something out, he tried it. He embraced life and wanted to experience all it had to offer. If there’s one thing I hope you can take from my dad, it’s to live your life. Maybe don’t go and try to ring the liberty bell, but don’t wait until tomorrow to talk to a loved one. Don’t wait until next year to do something you’ve been thinking about for a long time.

I miss my Dad, with all of my heart. I thank him for the beautiful gifts he’s given us. The love of learning something new. An amazing sense of humor. And the strength to move forward. It will be awhile until I can laugh the same again. I joke with my sister and it’s bittersweet, because I hear my Dad in us. He would always be right there, to add to the joke. Though I will never hear his laugh again, I know his sense of humor is something that will never leave us. He is with God now, but God doesn’t get to keep you to himself forever Dad. We will see you again. I love you.

Ulogy 2:

Posted On Facebook By Daughter Carolann Cook

Today I lost the most important man in my life. A man who has been there and supported me in all that I do. He gave me a wonderful sense of humor, the love of aviation, and a killer poker face. His love of sports built me into the Chiefs fan I am today and his innate desire to travel lead to many fun and exciting trips together. My love of seafood, photography, and trying new things comes from this man.

My dad was diagnosed with cancer in March of this year, and while he knew from the beginning that the prognosis was bleak, he fought with every fiber of his being, and I couldn’t be more proud of him than I am today.

George Cook, I love you, and I will miss you every day. I am honored to be called your daughter. If I can show half the strength, smarts, and humor you possess, I’m a lucky girl. You left an amazing legacy in the world, and a huge hole in my heart. You will live on through your stories, your humor, and your life lessons (which may have taken me way too long to comprehend). Now I hope you’re playing baseball in the sky. I love you Dad, and I hope to see you again.

Ulogy 3:

I am so very saddened to hear about the passing of our dear Brother Brad Cook. He was, to me, a great source of encouragement and strength. Brother Brad did so much volunteer work with responding to leads, answering questions from both members and non-members. Many good people have volunteered to help with this NewTestamentChurch.org evangelistic effort, but no one was a worker like our Brother Brad. In the past 20 years, I believe, we were both in communications about this Gospel effort at least on a weekly bases and many, many times daily. When I was down, overwhelmed, or just plain discouraged, he was always there to lift me up! I usually don’t publish on our website negative things about other religions but hold to the positive attributes of The Gospel towards the saving of souls. However Brother Brad completed a series on “Why I Am Not A …Muslim, Jehovah Witness, Mormon, Catholic, Scientologist, Protestant, Any Worldly Church” And concluding with “Why I Am In The Church Of Christ.” I believe this to be a much needed study and Brad’s articles are now posted on our site. I was so impressed that I encourage him to have it also in book format and told him I would find someone to publish it. He was in the process of having it all proofed and I hope we can get it published sometime in the future. In my opinion, there was no one like my Brother Brad, so humble that you most likely would never know he did so much for the cause of our Lord, but he did and I honestly don’t know how I am going to make it without him in this website effort. He was to me, “closer than a brother.” Some time back, I have had the honor to preach at North Brighton Church of Christ and meet many of the dear brethren there. It hurt Brother Cook greatly when he became unable to attend the services and to also see the congregation getting smaller due to some of the brethren passing on such as his friend and one of the leader’s Byron Jones. Please pray for his Church family and also for his two daughters, Peggy and Carolann of which he so often spoke of with much love.

Now Brad was a kidder, (as I am) so Brad I’m going to get the last word in:
I know we should be careful on praising each other (Glory and Honor belongs to God). But in regards to the work Brother Brad did in the saving of souls with leads from NewTestamentChurch.org …He was to me a “superman” …However, he really didn’t look very good in his superman suite, but oh how he could fly.

Special Note: I have conducted and attended many funerals in my 68 years of life here on earth and I can say that this “gathering” by friends and loved one’s of George Bradley Cook for his “so called funeral” was (to me) not a typical funeral at all, but a wonderful celebration of his life. I have never been a part of such an honorable and joyful occasion in remembering one who has passed from this life. One could not overlook the sincere love and respect Peggy and Carolann had for their daddy and they brought such integrity to their father’s name and remembrance of his life. Peggy and Carolann …hold to the truths your daddy taught all of us and Heaven is ours!

Ulogy 4:

Dad’s Eulogy By Peggy Cook

I miss my dad a lot. He was always a huge part of my life and losing him only magnified how large of a role he played. I went from seeing him 2-3 times a week and spending hours at a time with him to seeing him as the background of my phone and making spontaneous trips to his house just to lay in his bed and wish he was still here to tell him how much he meant to me.

There is so many “what-ifs” and “I wishes” and so many moments and new memories that won’t include him and I know he would never want me dwell on the hurt so I’d like to share one of my favorite memories of him growing up. There are so many but I’d probably be here until next Sunday.

I’m the monster that ate your daddy: Every day when my dad would come from work my sister and I would hear the garage door open and we’d would run to the railing of the stairs and shout down to him. We had two sets of stairs, one went down vertically then turn and went down a second floor. Normally he would flip on the light and come up the stairs and give us hugs but every once in a while he would stand there in the dark and try to scare us, like a good little father. He tried to convince us to come down the stairs and into the dark, and we’d slowly creep down the stairs or stick our feet through the railing and he’d come out of the dark and try to grab them. But as we got older we thought we got wiser too and one day i told him “Daddy I know it’s you! I can see you and tell by your voice that it’s you! And without skipping a beat he says from the dark- I only look like your daddy because I ate him, then he pops his head out of the dark and all we could see where his green eyes staring back and says “I’m not your Daddy, I’m the monster that ate your daddy!” Still sends chills but it was great! Our worlds were changed forever and that’s when I knew my dad would always be smarter than us and we’d never win. And it’s one of my favorite memories…..And that’s also probably why I get so much enjoyment out of scaring my littlest sister!!

Not only was he an incredible dad, he was also really proud of his military career. One of his favorite memories and accomplishments, and there were many throughout his life- including the ringing the Liberty Bell as a kid.

While he was in the Army he worked in intelligence- and don’t worry, what I’m about to say next has been declassified ?? – but he served during the Cold War and would listen in on countries that the US deemed as a threat. He listened to a lot of teletype, voice and Morse code messages and one day He realized there were some irregularities that were getting overlooked. They soon discovered that the Russians had reversed the polarity of their Morse code, essentially sending information backwards and what the US thought were normal factory shipments to Cuba actually ended up being missiles heading to Cuba. And from then on they were able to decipher Russia’s hidden messages and found some very important shipments.

Not only did my dad have a devotion for his country but also deep respect for General George Patton. General Patton has a famous speech that he spoke to the US 3rd Army prior to the invasion of France. My dad wasn’t a man of much emotion but while we were watching the documentary I saw a rare sight of him tearing up during his speech. I knew then that I wanted to frame the speech for his birthday so he could hang it up on his desk. At the moment, I didn’t realize how much it would actually resonate and intertwine with our lives.

During the last few years of his life he wasn’t able to leave the house very often due to his severe knee pain, he no longer had any cartilage in his knees and it was to the point where it was just bone on bone rubbing together and any walking was incredibly difficult. Since he mainly wheeled himself around the house any type of physical exertion caused a lot of strain on him as well.

For the longest time we would just go over to his house and hang out, being in each others company was enough. it was just the three of us- Dad, my sister and I.

After we found out about dads diagnosis we became a team more than ever. Now with his radiation treatments he had to be moving 4 days a week. Even though he knew we loved him, I don’t think he knew how far our devotion actually went. At first he didn’t want to bother us and even mentioned taking an uber to his treatments- which was obviously unacceptable. He’s was the type of man that never wanted to bother others but loved helping countless people. He was afraid that he’d be bothering us with the task of helping him up and down the stairs, getting him in and out of the car, pushing him in a wheelchair and waiting for him during his appointments. But that was never a thought that crossed our minds because we were his cheerleaders, he deserved nothing less. Also, we wouldn’t have had it any other way and we actually enjoyed wheeling him around. We even played tricks on him like he did to us as kids while in the grocery store. He’d put us in a grocery cart and push us down an aisle and quickly hide behind another one. So now, we’d push him forward down a hallway and pretend to let go. “Look Dad, no hands!”

After his radiation treatment failed we become stronger than ever. When dad was admitted into the hospital we never left his side, and when he went back for the last time we literally lived and breathed together. Nothing mattered but supporting him through the toughest battle of his life. Then not much longer after that, what we thought would be at least a couple years together disappeared when we were told that he only had a few more days. We couldn’t understand it because every obstacle, everything the doctors said he couldn’t do, he did. We always felt like our father was invincible. But as we watched him become more tired and his kidneys began failing we knew too soon that our time together was coming to an end. So I called my very close friends Chanel for a favor. I asked if she could print out the George Patton speech for me and bring it to the hospital so our dad could have Father’s Day and his birthday before he passed. She had recently lost her mother and knowing I couldn’t leave his side she didn’t hesitate to come through. It was beautiful and he was so proud and honored to have received it.

So I’d like to read a couple excerpts from Patton’s speech and He uses some pretty colorful language here and there so I will work around it so bare with me.

“Be Seated….
Every man is scared in his first action. If he says he’s not, he’s a liar. But the real hero is the man who fights even though he’s scared. Some men will get over their fright in a minute under fire, some take an hour, and for some it takes days. But the real man never lets his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. An army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, and fights as a team. This individual hero stuff is bullcrap. All the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters. Every single man in the army plays a vital role. So don’t ever let up. Don’t ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man does his job. Every man is important. “

In his final weeks we realized how much he trusted and looked up to us. He had so many doctors coming in and out from cardiothoracic surgeons to oncologist to gastroenterologists to internal medicine. So many medications to keep track of with ever changing dosages. With his rapid decline in health there were so many changes that the nurses and doctors weren’t always properly recording them so it was up to my sister and I to keep track. We wanted to be by his side and it was crucial that we were there. When a new doctor or nurse would come in and ask him questions he would defer them to us. There were times where dad would comment that he didn’t know where he’d be without his girls. Growing up, we always looked up to him for guidance and strength and now he was looking up to us from his hospital bed with full pride and confidence that we were able to give him the comfort and strength he always showed. We were by his side until he took his very last breath. His pulse was so strong and I remember because I was curled up next to him on his bed with my hand on his chest and the other playing with his hair and Carolann was laying on the other side of him with his hand in hers. The doctor had come in around 11 am and said he had until the end of the day. We hadn’t slept in days and barley slept the past 3 weeks. We told him that we were going to take a quick 20 minute nap next to him and my sister asked if that was ok. He wasn’t conscious to respond at this point but we felt he could hear us from time to time. Not long after I felt something, either him or God telling me that is was time. I looked at my sister and told her this was it, Dad’s going to take his last breath. I was able to feel him in those last moments and tell him how great he has done and how proud of him we were. I kept telling him he did great and it was ok to go, we love him so much. I watched him take that breath that sent him to his loving Father.

He took care of us, and then we got to take care of him and now his journey here is complete.

Most of all I hope he left this world knowing how much he was loved.
Now He gets to explore a new place and I know he’s waiting to show it to us. Ill be holding your hand again one day. You will be so missed and cherish. I love you Daddy.
Your Favorite Youngest Daughter, Peggy

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