[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 63 (Thursday, May 16, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            PASTOR H.J. COOK

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARK STEVEN KIRK

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 15, 2002

  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I come to the 
floor today to look back upon the life of Pastor H.J. Cook of Waukegan, 
IL. For 42 years, Pastor Cook served the Gideon Missionary Baptist 
Church in Waukegan. He was a remarkably committed spiritual leader. In 
our lives, we rarely meet men so totally devoted to their community, so 
keenly in touch with their congregations and so passionately inspired 
in the service of their faith. Pastor Cook was such a man. On 
Wednesday, May 8, 2002, Pastor Cook died at the age of 75.
  H. Judea Cook was born in Varner, Arkansas, on November 5, 1926 to 
General and Gerilla Cook. He met and married Osa Lee Jones on March 7, 
1948. In 1949, Reverend Cook accepted his call to the ministry-serving 
the Morning View Baptist Church in McCrory, Arkansas for 10 years.
  Pastor Cook attended Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, the 
Jackson Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL, and the Mariet Business 
College in Oakland, CA. During the course of his study, he earned a 
Bachelor of Science degree in Theology, a Master's of Theology, and is 
an Honorary Doctor of Divinity and an Honorary Doctor of Letters.
  On October 9, 1959, Reverend Cook came to Waukegan as the Pastor for 
Gideon Missionary Baptist Church. Through four decades of service, he 
has steadily increased the membership of his congregation and 
demonstrated outstanding financial leadership. In 1961, Reverend Cook 
was pastor to little more than 90 people who worshiped in a small 
concrete building in Indiana. Today, the Gideon parsonage is home to a 
$1 Million renovation project. The church has moved to Ridgeland Avenue 
and has added a Christian Education extension, a new library, offices, 
and sanctuary.
  Since 1988, the church has established the Christian Education School 
for leadership training, and the Baptist for Nurture program. Gideon is 
home to a departmental church school, a mission ministry, a bus and 
tape ministry, and an evangelistic program. Still, in spite of all the 
changes to the physical foundation at Gideon, Pastor Cook has remained 
faithful to the spiritual mission of the church and is remembered as a 
centerpiece of Waukegan's own community fabric.
  Pastor Cook will be laid to rest this afternoon in North Chicago. He 
is survived by his devoted wife of 52 years, Sister Osa Cook, by his 
five daughters and by one son. He is grandfather to thirty-seven 
children and great-grandfather to twenty-two more. Pastor Cook leaves 
behind an entire community of friends and family and untold numbers who 
were touched by his smile, his warmth, and his generosity.
  It has been my privilege to serve Pastor Cook and to see his faith 
and love in action. He will be missed.




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