Member of the Month 

February 2007

Lou Cook

NOTE: The outfit Lou decided to wear for this picture is the same one that she wore when she posed with her husband Ed for our church directory in 2003.

by: Tom Whitener

Our February 2007 Member of the Month is an amazing storyteller. When asked to sit in a rocking chair and read the Christmas story to children during our morning worship service in 2005, she gladly indulged us. I enjoyed talking with Lou Cook and hearing more of her stories - served with a smile.  Still on the mend from several broken ribs, Lou laughs, “The doctors say it’s just going to take time to heal, but I tell them it’s going to take old age.” 

Lou has been coming to Spring Hill Baptist Church for 56 years. During that first summer in 1951, she heard the Gospel clearly presented and realized there were “more than just moral answers in life.”  Lou began asking questions and soon accepted Jesus as her Savior.  As a young mother, she would often put her babies in a stroller and walk to church. Today, she keeps close tabs on her three now-adult children (Donnie, Debby and Cathy), along with her three grandsons (Scotty, Craig, and Andy). 

Lou was married to her husband Ed for 61 years. “God must have known what He was doing,” Lou says, “I’m a people person and Ed is more of a home-body. So we balanced each other out.” Ed passed away in April 2006 and Lou recalls many things about their life together with such vivid detail. 

For example, the Cooks had a farm outside of Spanishburg, WV. They would offer an opportunity for the church family to spend a “Day in the Country”. This “standing invitation” and traditional event continued for 12 years. She remembers one year she got everyone to come in costume for an “Old Fashioned Day” where ladies wore bonnets and cold drinks were served out of a washtub filled with ice. 

Lou always dreamed of being a teacher since she was six years old. That eventually led to her first job in a one-room schoolhouse – on the way to a successful 30+ year career in public education. Lou continues to use her talents as the Sunday School teacher for the Mary Martha class.    

Although her favorite hymn, “Jesus Took My Burden and Left Me With A Song”, is not found in our current hymnal, Lou encouraged me to locate one of the old hymnals and look over the lyrics. “I really like the words of that song. I might actually start crying if I read them,” she told me.  Lou’s favorite Scriptures are found in Proverbs 3:5&6 and Psalm 46:10.       

This month ushers its cold blasts into our area, making us all long for staying home and staying warm. But Lou has extra incentive. She recently had some remodeling completed in her kitchen and laundry room. Lou jokes, “Everything looks so nice that I am tempted to move my bed in there.”

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