Maurice Cook: Serving His Country and His Community
By June Nargang
Maurice Cook was born to Albert and Emily (Jordan) Cook on May 30, 1903, the fifteenth child of 18, weighing 15 pounds, in Ham Surrey House maternity ward, home of workers of the Palace.
Maurice Cook
He could play music at an early age: the mouth organ, jew’s harp, and bird whistling. He received three years of formal education and sang in the Westminster Abbey boys’ choir from the ages of eight to ten.
The family came to Canada with his parents and seven children, landing at the port of Montreal. They came to Manitoba and started “Market Gardens” in 1913. It was all hands on deck!
At 18, he worked for an older brother’s sawmill near Nipawin, Sask., and answered an ad for a hired man near Rosetown. There he learned to manage an eight-horse hitch for seeding, a binder to make bundles, and a feed threshing machine.
In 1927, he married the farmer’s oldest daughter, Eleanor Simpson. He worked with two brothers putting in water and sewer lines in the town of Wilkie as a summer job before returning for harvest.
After he was done, he and Eleanor and their new baby boy, along with his brothers, headed for homesteading in the Peace River Country of Alberta. They settled in the community of Goodfare.
Along with brothers and a couple of friends, they cleared land for a store, community hall, school, and four homes, including their own one mile east of the store. These were all log buildings from cleared trees.
Hard work was well known to our parents and all neighbours from foreign countries: Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, England, Scotland and Native Albertans. Three reserves were nearby.
Our family included two boys and four girls. Their son Billy is buried at Hythe. Irene was born in Beaverlodge, and Dad delivered the last four of us. The midwife appeared a little late for Harold, Margaret, Joyce and June.
We had wonderful neighbours and friends, but in 1941 one of Dad’s brothers came in an army uniform, convinced life could be more profitable than scratching out a hard life there. In October, an auction sale was held and we rode the train for days to Biggar, Sask.
Grandpa had invited his daughter and five children to come home and be cared for by him. It truly was our mother’s home — a large two-storey framed T. Eaton house. It was a castle for us! We attended the same Camberly School she had attended.
Dad trained in Wainwright, then Red Deer, and from there to England. He came home in 1945, and what a wonderful reunion for all of us!
While there, he got to visit three older siblings and their families, and helped clean up in London, driving a “lorry” and putting body parts in bags, alongside Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen) who was driving an ambulance. He was gifted a cup and saucer and bread-and-butter plate from King George VI on behalf of Ham Surrey House.
Dad hired out near Rosetown for money to buy his own farm six miles east and south of Kindersley in 1948. Our new place was Turvin School for us three girls. Harold was a gas truck driver at Co-op, and Irene worked at McEwen’s Dry Goods and as a postal worker.
Dad belonged to Co-op, Credit Union, Pool and was a Legion member, Branch No. 57, from 1948 to 1965. Many farmers also called on him as a midwife for their livestock.
He also worked for R.M. No. 290 building roads and cutting grass in ditches to pay back the loan for a veteran who had bought land. There was no help for mental attacks and night sweats, causing great anxiety for him — always afraid of hurting our mother. Still, there is not much real help for veterans of other wars since, either.
He was a great reader of agricultural materials. He was very community-minded, helping to shingle four of our neighbours’ houses built in 1950 and roofing the rink. It took many volunteers to build it.
In 1964, he suffered a massive heart attack and was hospitalized for months. When he fully recovered, Mother drove them to Victoria to celebrate their 39th anniversary with her siblings in February.
He had another massive heart attack in March and had surgery in Vancouver General. Complications set in and he passed peacefully with Mother and her sister Annie at his bedside on March 26, 1966.
His interment was in the Edna Rose Cemetery in Kingstand community north of Rosetown, along with Grandpa and Grandma Simpson. Our mother, sister Irene and brother Harold are all resting together.
He served his country well, along with much love for his family.