Edward David Cook was born on February 20th, 1934 in Saint Jon New Bruunswick, Canada. He was the oldest son of three brothers and one sister. His father Albert Edward David Cook came from Brighton, England in 1920 to Canada. Albert married his wife Nellie Beatrice Fisher in 1933.His father joined the army in 1939 and served overseas in England, France. He stayed in the army till 1953. He worked as a machinist till his death in 1968. Ed's dad gave him the nickname "Skipper" which later family and close friends called him "Skip".
When the war broke out his dad went overseas. His mother decided to move with her five children to MacDonalds corner. Fifty miles out in the country there were constant air raid warnings in the city and German submarines had been spotted in the bay of Fundy nearby. For five years the Cook family lived in this country atmosphere and Edward attend a one room school.
In 1945 when his dad came back from World War 2, the Cook family moved back to Saint john. Edward then continued his education from grade 6 to 11. In 1947 he became a boy scout, then becoming in 1949 a king scout, the highest honor at that time. In 1951 his dad was transferred to Moncton, New Brunswick where Edward attend Moncton high school and was member of their army cadet corps. He became proficient in rifle shooting winning the highest awards from the DCRA at that time.
With the upbringing of his father and grandfather being in the army its no wonder Edward Cook joined the Royal Canadain Mounted Police to serve and protect his country. He remained in the R.C.M.P. for 18 years. After leaving the R.C.M.P. he moved to Yellowknife, N.W.T. to take the postion of chief constable for the city of Yellowknife. He was charge of 22 men working security at two gold mines and various government offices. In 1973 he took a job in the mining records office there as DIAND office manager. Later he became mining recorder for the Mackenzie District. In 1981 he was apointed chief mining recorder for the N.W.T. This job entailed looking after the recording of some 80,000 claims. He retired in 1990 and moved to Edmonton , Alberta after spending 37 years with the government of Canada.
Edward Cook was involved with the St. John Ambulance over 55 years of service in some form or another. In 2000 was promoted to the rank of knight of the order. He continued to be involved in the work of St. John as the member of the Edmonton branch advisory board till his death . Edward Cook has written articles for magazines, newspapers on police topics, sport and travel. He enjoyed potery writing and painting. He had painted over 100 paintings that are in homes all across Canada. He had won serveral contests for his paintings. His potery has touched many famous people as he has written for them. Some of them are, Prime minster Trudeau,Chretien, wayne Gretzy, Tiger Woods, Canadas first astronaut and like of country singer Hank Snow, Prince Charles.
On May 6th, 2006 we said our goodbyes to our father , friend . He was a brave man till his death holding on strong for his family and friends.I believe he still watches over us all from the kindom of heaven...till we meet again
