Susan L. Cooke

SUSAN L. KIMBRELL COOKE Susan Lizabeth Cooke, nee Kimbrell, 67, passed away Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at Foxwood Springs Care Center, Raymore, Missouri. A Celebration of Life will be held at 11 AM Tuesday, June 13, 2017 with visitation at 10 AM at Newcomers Noland Road Chapel in Independence, Missouri. Graveside service at Fairview Cemetery in Sweet Springs, Missouri, following. Born on October 5th, 1949 in Fayette, Missouri to Joseph and Anna Margaret Kimbrell, Susan was a member of the first graduating class in 1967 at Truman High School in Independence, Missouri. She attended Central Missouri State Univerity and University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she earned a BA in Foreign Languages and Literatures in 1971 and in 1979 received a Master of Arts in Romance Languages and Literatures. Susan taught French for one year in the Kansas City School District at Bingham Junior High School and then taught French in the Belton School District from 1972 to 2001 at which time she retired. Susan taught with intense love for the language and culture of France and instilled that love in her students, several of whom went on to college courses in French and careers using their command of the French language. She took six groups of high school students to France during her teaching career and spent several summers in France with a French family with whom she became very close. She had a lifelong love of dogs and horses and she owned many of both species, which were mostly rescues. She was a Thoroughbred racehorse devotee, meeting Secretariat, Cigar and many other famous racehorses in her frequent forays to Kentucky Horse Park and watching many Kentucky Derbies in person at Churchill Downs. She rescued two retired Thoroughbreds off the track that she loved dearly and was active in several Thoroughbred rescue organizations. Susan is survived by her sister, Amelia (Amy) Kimbrell Hull, brother-in-law James Hull, Kansas City, and an uncle, Charles L. Scrivner of Independence.