Obituaries

Bernard Leon Cook

Obituary

Bernard Leon Cook

December 16, 1927 – March 26, 2026

Bernie Cook passed away on Mar 26, 2026 at the age of 98. More than blueberry pie, he loved his wife Shirley, who he would call the most beautiful woman in the world. They married and shared nearly 70 years together, raising two children, Sharon and Walter, and delighting in grandchildren Caroline, Mackenzie, Taylie, and Aleo. Together they shared a life of adventures that included hiking and traveling around the United States and Canada, to visit relatives on both sides of the family and attend round dance events. Bernie always made an effort to stay connected to everyone, to take pictures of relatives, and to personally give them copies of these pictures. Family was important to him and pictures were his way of sharing and giving back by connecting people with their family history.

Bernie was born on the farmlands in Jamaica, Iowa, near Yale, to parents of Czech and Viking heritage. His Mom, Olive Cabelka, was born in Iowa of Czech parents. She had a twin sister, Ivyl Cabelka. Bernie's Dad, Roy Cook, was also born in Iowa, and descended from English and Viking parents. He served in WW1 and received a victory medal for fighting several battles in France. Roy and Olive met at a barn dance and got married. During the depression, a few years after Bernie was born, Roy’s older brother told them to move to Yakima, WA to work at pruning orchards. Roy would later go into construction; finding work in Yakima and later at Hanford. Olive would become a pillar in the church and community. Together, Roy and Olive would focus on raising 3 boys in a Christian home in Yakima, in which Bernie was the middle child. Bernie’s older brother was Ron Cook and his younger brother was Harley Cook. Both would later get married and also have 2 kids each. Ron would later follow Bernie to Seattle with his family. Harley would later move to Texas and then Virginia with his family. All 3 boys would still travel back to Yakima and Seattle to visit family.

Bernie would deliver newspapers, go to the grocery store for his mother, become a devout Christian, and began setting goals. At Yakima High School, Bernie was part of the 3 B's: Bernie, Billy Hunt, and Bob McNeil. After graduating from Yakima High School near the end of WWII, Ron, who was in the Navy, told him to join now as an officer and get the GI Bill to pay for college before another big war could start. Bernie enlisted into the U.S. Marine Corp and served in San Diego, cleaning F4U Corsair fighter aircraft, helping the pilots and take-off and land, and scheduling their shore leave, all with the VMF-214, the infamous "Black Sheep Squadron."

After serving, Bernie went to the UW in Seattle and was president of Adelphi fraternity from 1951-1952. He went to a dance at University Christian Church, when Shirley, the most beautiful woman in the world, entered the room, accompanied with her older sister Joyce, and Joyce's future husband, Bill Dowd. He quickly introduced himself to Bill, chatted with him, and then asked Bill to introduce him to Shirley. The rest is history.

Bernie finished his degree in Civil Engineering, started working for the City of Seattle Engineering department, and they got married. Bernie’s dad Roy passed away a year later. Soon after, Bernie and Shirley moved to the Bay area so that Bernie could complete his Master’s degree in Traffic Engineering from UC Berkeley. In 1958, Billy Graham was doing some crusades in the Bay area. Bernie sent numerous local newspaper clippings from Oakland to his mom Olive, excitedly sharing about the outreaches that Billy Graham was doing, which was also of interest to her.

After Berkeley, Bernie and Shirley returned to Seattle and attended University Christian Church for many years, where they led a young marrieds' group with couples Bob and Doreen McNeil, Ron and Florence Cook, and Bill and Joyce Dowd. They later went to Lutheran Memorial, Broadview Comm UCC, Park Ridge Chapel, and Cedar Park Church. They were also leaders in the Carkeek/Broadview area for their kids' activities, school, sports, Rainbow, DeMolay, cub scouts, boy scouts, and girl scouts. They also enjoyed many fond family gatherings together with extended family, and many Cabelka relatives in Iowa. They made a family trip to Iowa with Sharon and Walter in 1977 to celebrate Joe and Neva Cabelka’s 50th wedding anniversary.

Years after Roy passed, Bernie’s Mom Olive would marry again, this time to Emil Rosenkrantz, as both were widowers in Yakima and met at a bible study. Oddly enough, Emil’s son, Richard (Dick) Rosenkrantz, who recently passed in Apr 2025, also went to Yakima High School, and graduated just half-a-year earlier than Bernie. Dick and Bernie really didn’t really know each other at the time, but Richard Rosenkrantz’s family would become great friends over the years with Ron Cook’s family, Bernie Cook’s family, and the McNeil family. These families would coordinate gatherings together sharing slide shows, playing musical instruments and ping pong, and having potlucks.

By 1970, Bernie had moved up to become Seattle’s Assistant City Traffic Engineer, but these were not good times for Seattle, as Boeing layoffs shuttered the region’s economy and big freeway projects waned. Bernie would shift to project and construction management, working to improve roads, get potholes filled in a timely manner, and improve traffic flow and safety with small traffic circles. During this time, Bernie and Shirley started joining square dance and round dance clubs with Bob and Doreen McNeil.

Bernie worked for the City of Seattle Engineering department for 35 years as a Traffic Engineer and project manager designing freeways and traffic circles in Seattle. He retired so that he and Shirley could spend more time with their numerous square dance and round dance clubs, as well as to attend national round dance events, like the 65th National Square Dance Convention in Des Moines, Iowa in June 2016. In 2009, Bernie and Shirley were recipients of the McNutt award and over the years have been actively involved with Round-A-Lab, the Mt Baker Council, Dudes and Dolls, Happy Hoppers, Happy Rounders, and many more clubs. He credited round dancing with keeping him active. He also walked his Broadview neighborhood to keep active, but really, he just enjoyed meeting and chatting with his neighbors.

 

A Celebration of Life service for Bernie will be held at 2pm, Saturday July 11, at Cedar Park Church in Bothell. It will be held in the Chapel of the Resurrection building.

- Enjoy some pie as we celebrate his life. If you like, bring a pie to share.

- There will be a live link of the celebration: https://youtube.com/live/I1u49ZyUOV8

- A separate Military Burial will be held the following Tuesday at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent. (12:30pm on Tuesday July 14).