Zula Shankles Cooke

Marietta Monitor

January 24, 2003, page 4

Submitted by: Martha N. Reddout

Memorial services for Zula Shankles Cooke, 93, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were held in Bton Rouge, and another service in Burneyville is pending.

Mrs. Cooke was born August 6, 1909, at Burneyville, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Shankles. She died January 21, 2003, at Baton Rouge.

An elementary school teacher, Mrs. Cooke taught at Oklahoma City, Jimtown, Burneyville and at schools in Oregon and Washington. During World War II, she worked at John A. Brown and Company in Oklahoma City. Mrs. Cooke graduated from Burneyville High School and received her bachelor's degree in elementary education and art from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1940. She received her master's degree in teaching from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1958. Mrs. Cooke was an avid bird watcher and wrote articles on birds for the newsletter in her retirement home in Baton Rouge. She was also a member of the Audobon Society of America. She was an outstanding classroom teacher and a gifted artist as well.

Survivors include several nieces and nephews, Jerrell and June Elston of Burleson, Texas, Doris Turpin of Fort Worth, Texas, Kenneth and Marjorie Dixon of Lafayette, Louisiana, Myra Lee of Baton Rouge, Ruth King of Somis, California, Sondra Bonds of Denison, Texas and Truman and Ruth Wester of Denison, Texas.

Mrs. Cooke was preceded in death by her husband, Homer F. Cooke; her parents; a brother and sister-in-law, Colson and Alice Shankles; and five sisters and brothers-in-law, Lera and Homer Dixon, Angie and Orren Wester, Connie and Dewey King, Mae and Shawnee Brown and Esther and Albert Brofft.

Interment was in Burneyville Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to your favorite church or charity, or to the Homer F. Cooke Scholarship at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant.