Nancy Lee Cook

Nancy was born November 2nd, 1932, in Vinton, Iowa and grew up on the Markland family farm with six other siblings. After graduating in 1950 from Lincoln High School in Vinton, Iowa she attended St Luke’s Methodist School of Nursing graduating in the fall of 1953. This began her life’s journey that took her to a nursing position in St. Charles, Louisiana, back to Iowa and then onto Colorado and finally California.

This is where she met her future husband Arthur R Cook whom she married on December 15th, 1956. She lived with her husband Arthur in Riverside, California for over thirty-three years raising two children Deborah and Kevin. During this time, she also worked periodically as a nurse at Riverside Community Hospital and the Community Convalescent Center in Riverside, California. She retired from nursing in 1989 but she never lost the moniker of “Nurse Nancy” because family and friends continually asked her for advice about aliments and medical conditions. Her midwestern roots and her training as a nurse seemed to amplify her innate sense of responsibility and ability to care for others. This attribute continued to be part of her daily life even as a patient at Freedom Village in Lake Forest, California. She was constantly aware of what all the other patients around her needed and was never shy about telling the nursing staff and aids what they should be doing.

She was predeceased in life by her parents Sam and Madeline; sister Shirley; brothers Wallace, Wayne and Flave and her husband Arthur. She leaves behind her sisters Sylvia “Jo” and Mary, children Deborah and Kevin, son in-law Jung, daughter in-law Kathi, granddaughter Hannah, and her new husband Peter, as well as her beloved cat Cammi.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that you make a donation in her name to your local humane society or the St Luke’s School of Nursing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (nursing.givesmart.com or call 319-369-7716)

Services will be held at the Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California on Friday, August 5th, 2022 at 10:30 AM.

You will be Missed, Love to you Always!