She was born Birdie Dean Cook on March 5, 1932 in Cincinnati, OH to the late Frederick Curtis Cook, Sr. and Mildred Leonard Cook. The family moved to Chicago in 1945.
Birdie graduated from Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago where she excelled in Math and Modern Dance. Birdie Cook married Gerald Mallory of Chicago in 1950 and they had two daughters, Amerilis and Debra.
With nursing training, Birdie became an LPN, a highly requested surgical nurse and the inaugural Patient Representative at Woodlawn Hospital in Chicago where she reported directly to the hospital board.
After retirement, Birdie relocated to the SF Bay Area to be near her daughters; and a few years after, she moved to Nevada. She became a Case Manager for Senior Housing for Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada and a client caregiver for Visiting Angels. Before slowing down completely, Birdie volunteered at the Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center ER Department.
Birdie is preceded in death by her four siblings, Frederick Curtis Cook, Jr, James Earl Cook, Virginia Lee Cook Jackson and Marvin Willis Cook; her two nephews, Michael Jinks and Lawrence Cook; her two nieces, Anita Maria Cook, and Frieda Yvonne Whitehead; Birdie’s former husband, Gerald Mallory and many more beloved extended family members.
Birdie is survived by her daughters, Amerilis Ersery and Debra “Debbie” Boxton, her granddaughters, Julia (Otto) Akpan, and Morgan Ersery; great grandchildren, Isaiah and Idara Akpan; nephews Rodney (Beverly) Dennis, Fred Cook III, and James Cook; her nieces, Phyllis Mack, Pamela Miller, Cynthia Waggner, Celeste Cook, Lorraine Singleton, and Loretta Adams; her cousins, Donna Coleman Welch, Wayne, and Ronald Coleman, Derek, Kenneth, and Gregory Ross; and extended family members.
In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to Alzheimer's Disease Research:
https://support.brightfocus.org/default.aspx?tsid=9987&isTribute=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6Y-I8PGC5AIVlBx9Ch3swgwHEAMYASABEgK_pfD_BwE
