Marjorie Cook Obituary

Marjorie Cook, of Cortez, passed away Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011. She was 71. She will be buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Mancos.

Marjorie - "Dani" to her friends - was born in Durango, the only child of Meredith and Emma Dean Guillet. Her parents were both raised in Mancos, in the shadow of Mesa Verde. Meredith went to work at the Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Mesa Verde National Park and it sparked a long career with the National Park Service, ending in his retirement as the superintendent at Mesa Verde in 1973. During her childhood, Dani and her parents lived at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Chaco Canyon National Monument, and Walnut Canyon National Monument. After high school, Dani went to Northern Arizona University and married another Park Service "brat" John E. Cook, whose father was also a park superintendent.

Dani and John began their own adventures in the national parks of the Southwest, as John's career took them to Navajo National Monument, Chaco, Canyon de Chelly and Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, all in the first decade of their marriage. While John had the official NPS career, Dani took care of their two children, Kayci and Lafe. She loved gardening and wherever they lived, she grew vegetables and gorgeous flowers. John's career advanced and they bounced from Scottsdale, Ariz., to San Francisco, Calif. to Washington, D.C. Dani enjoyed the cultural opportunities that city life had to offer - attending concerts and operas at the Kennedy Center in D.C., taking the kids to museums and monuments - but she was a country girl at heart, and certainly a Westerner. From D.C., Dani and her family moved to Santa Fe, N.M., then to Anchorage, Alaska, Gatlinburg, Tenn. and back to Santa Fe. Dani lived in New Mexico until 2004, when she moved to Cortez. She liked the idea of being closer to where her family was from.

Dani loved to read her whole life, she listened to all types of music, and she enjoyed keeping up on current events and politics, just has her parents had. Her interests definitely influenced her children in each of their careers. Daughter, Kayci Cook Collins, is a 30-year veteran of the National Park Service, now superintendent at El Malpais and El Morro National Monuments in New Mexico. Son, Lafe Cook, is band director at Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport, Tenn. - his marching band, one of the best in the country, will march in the 2011 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

Dani is survived by her husband, John Cook, of Page, Ariz., her children Kayci and Lafe, and her grandchildren, Sean Collins, and Kennon and Morgan Cook.

Condolences can be sent to the family in care of Kayci Collins, P.O. Box 10, Grants, NM 87020.