Carol Lee Cooke

Ms. Carol Lee Cooke, 62, of Steele, Mo., died Saturday, Jan. 6, at Stonebridge Assisted Living Center in Blytheville.

Born Sept. 16, 1955, at Selfridge Air Force Base in Michigan, she was the first of twin daughters. Cooke graduated from Caruthersville High School in 1973 and earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Education degree from Mississippi State University in 1977. She taught special education, mainly for the Pemiscot County Special School District at R-3.

Lee was a member of First Baptist Church in Steele, Mo. where she was baptized as a young child and sang in the choir for many years. She was a member of the Steele Book Club and enjoyed friendships through it. Her passions included a tender heart and love for animals; she loved her cats and cared for many of them over the years. She enjoyed hosting a Christmas party for her family and friends, and she also enjoyed keeping scrapbooks and journals to remember special events. Lee spent a lot of time, especially during her later years, enjoying movies and television series such as crime dramas, the Food Network and the Cooking Channel.

As a cancer survivor, she participated in many Relay for Life survivor walks and was always a big supporter of the American Cancer Society.

She was preceded in death by her parents, George W. Cooke and Edith Carey Fitzgerald Cooke; and two aunts, Margaret Cooke Vincent and Virginia Cooke Franklin.

Survivors include her twin sister, Lynn Cooke Holden and her husband Jerry of Terry, Miss.; her brother, George David Cooke and his wife Sally of Blytheville; a sister, Anne-Margaret Vincent of Tuscaloosa, Ala.; four nephews and nieces, Joshua David Cooke of Starkville, Miss; Courtney Cooke Baker and her husband Jonathan of Blytheville; George Glyn Holden of Terry, Miss. and Elisabeth Ashlee Holden of Terry, Miss.; two cousins, Michael Cooke Franklin and his wife Wendy of Starkville, Miss. and Patrick Cooke Franklin of Northport, Ala.; and many other friends and caregivers.

Funeral services were held Monday, January 8, at First Baptist Church of Steele, Mo. with the Rev. David Teem officiating. Burial followed at Pemiscot Memorial Gardens near Caruthersville, Mo. Visitation was Monday afternoon before the service.

Pallbearers were Joshua David Cooke, Jonathan Baker, George Glyn Holden, Michael Cooke Franklin, Patrick Cooke Franklin, Jack Day Perry, Mike Davis and Leslie Walter Knott.