[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 185 (Thursday, December 10, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING THE LIFE OF JOHN WARREN COOKE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. FRANK R. WOLF-

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 10, 2009

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I rise to share with our colleagues the 
recent passing of John Warren Cooke, former speaker of the Virginia 
House of Delegates. He died on November 28, 2009, at the age of 94.
  Born on February 28, 1915, in Mathews, Virginia, Speaker Cooke had a 
long history of service to Virginia, spending almost 4 decades in the 
House of Delegates from 1942 to 1980. After serving as the Democratic 
majority leader for 12 years, he became Speaker in 1968. He was well 
regarded on both sides of the aisle and considered a true gentleman.
  After retiring from the Virginia House of Delegates, Speaker Cooke 
returned to his hometown to continue serving as the publisher of the 
Gloucester-Mathews Gazette Journal, as he had done since 1954.
  Speaker Cooke's father, Major Giles B. Cooke, served on the general 
staff of General Robert E. Lee during the Civil War. As a 26-year-old, 
Major Cooke was on Lee's staff at Appomattox.
  As the ninth generation of his family to serve in the Virginia 
General Assembly and one of the last living Americans with a father in 
the Civil War, Speaker Cooke will surely be missed by the people of the 
Commonwealth of Virginia.
  I submit an obituary for Speaker Cooke published in The Washington 
Post on December 2.

                [From the Washington Post, Dec. 2, 2009]

          Courtly, Powerful Speaker of Va. House for 12 Years

                           (By Matt Schudel)

       John Warren Cooke, 94, who served 12 years as the quietly 
     influential speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, died 
     Nov. 28 at his home in the Mathews County town of Gloucester. 
     The cause of death could not be learned.
       Mr. Cooke, the last member of the Virginia legislature who 
     was the son of a Confederate veteran, was the Democratic 
     majority leader in the House of Delegates for 12 years before 
     becoming speaker in 1968. He exercised his authority with a 
     courtly demeanor and a gentle hand but was, as described in a 
     1979 Washington Post article, ``one of the state's most 
     powerful but little-noticed officials.''
       He served in the House of Delegates from 1942 to 1980, when 
     Virginia was struggling with integration and changing from 
     its Democratic, rural roots to a more urban and Republican-
     leaning state. Among other achievements, Mr. Cooke helped 
     bring a new bipartisan spirit to Richmond by appointing 
     Republicans to key committees for the first time in the 
     legislature's history.
       Until 1969, Virginia's legislators had no offices and 
     conducted their business from their desks and briefcases. As 
     speaker, Mr. Cooke had absolute authority to appoint the 100 
     members of the House to committees as he saw fit. His 
     committee choices, usually based on seniority, could affect 
     the direction and tone of legislation and whether it reached 
     the full House for a vote.
       Mr. Cooke, known as ``John Warren,'' was well liked and was 
     praised by his colleagues as ``the soul of fairness.''
       A 1970 Post story said Mr. Cooke's ``geniality'' and 
     ``quick dry wit'' served him well in politics: ``He guides 
     smoothly and skillfully, he is courteous, he is a gentleman 
     down to his toes--and he is very, very popular.''
       Mr. Cooke was considered a possible gubernatorial candidate 
     in 1969 and 1973, but he bowed out of the races to remain in 
     the House, representing a Tidewater district north of 
     Williamsburg.
       In 1972, as the Democratic speaker, he helped arrange a 
     compromise between contentious factions of the Democratic-
     controlled legislature and Republican governor Linwood Holton 
     to institute a sweeping reorganization of the state 
     government.
       John Warren Cooke was born Feb. 28, 1915, in Mathews, Va. 
     His father, who was 76 when his son was born, was an 
     Episcopal priest who had served on Gen. Robert E. Lee's staff 
     during the Civil War.
       Mr. Cooke attended the Virginia Military Institute and 
     returned to his home town to work for the Gloucester-Mathews 
     Gazette-Journal. He was publisher of the weekly newspaper 
     from 1954 until March of this year and was president of the 
     old Tidewater Baseball League.
       Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Anne Brown Rawn 
     Cooke of Mathews; and two children, Giles Buckner Cooke III 
     of Williamsburg and Elsa VanNess Verbyla of Mathews.

                          ____________________