Sarah Juanita Cook

Sarah Juanita Cook, 91 passed away on July 18, 2020. Nita, as she was known to her family and friends, was born the middle child of eleven on July 11, 1929 in Meridian, Mississippi to the late Otis Hales and Ina Mae Burt Hales.

She was first among her siblings to graduate which she did in 1947 from Martin High School in Collinsville, MS after participating in basketball and track. She married her sailor, Paul M Cook in Newport, RI in 1948 and enjoyed being a Navy wife for the next 22 years. Her early professional career included stenographer and secretary, but she excelled in retail first at Sears, then Miller & Rhoads at Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach. After advancing to Human Resource manager, she decided to accept an offer from Gene Walters at Farm Fresh to be Store Manager of their General Merchandise store located in Grafton, VA. She supervised the expansion and renaming of the store from Gibson Discount to County Fair and saw the store become even more successful. As manager and buyer for the store, she traveled yearly to Chicago, New York and Dallas to purchase soft-lines. She had many co-workers and customers which she considered friends. The store closed in 1988 which gave her plenty of time to spoil her grandchildren and travel to visit her brothers and sisters.

Left to cherish her memory are her daughters, Paula Cook and Gina Wickizer, husband Russell; brother Bill Hales of Houston, sisters Faye Gibson and Norma Adams of Nashville; grandchildren, Michael Wilkins, wife Allie, Russell Wickizer III and Lauren Wickizer; great-granddaughter Lillian Wilkins; special friends Freda and Stacy Routt, Donna and Kenneth Reeves ; and a host of nieces and nephews.

The family offers a heartfelt thanks to the wonderful nursing staff that cared for Nita at Sentara PACE and Sentara Life Care Chesapeake.

A private service is scheduled Friday, July 24 at Rosewood Cemetery with a memorial service at a later

date.