Mongoose - Where Have You Been?

Over the years of using the Internet, I've tried to find Gary Cook many times. Gary was usually the person that other former Ko-Op workers wanted to locate and reconnect with, but I could not find a trace. That was until February 2012 when I finally located another Cook with a hometown of Dupo, Illinois on Facebook. It was his younger brother Brian; a quick email exchange and Brian gave me an address for Gary. Here's an update of what the Mongoose (His nickname: I believe Gary always said he was a furry little critter that was unusually fast!) has been up to all these years:

Note: At the end of this posting from Gary, there is already a comment from Lyle Mowery (Click on it to read). Add one of your own.

After graduation from EIU (Aug 1968 - I thought I was the only one who graduated in the summer rather than Spring, those pesky credits needed for a degree), Gary enlisted in the Air Force in November '68. In his words (From here on out), "I wanted to be a pilot, but my eyesight wasn't good enough. I ended up working in a military pay unit, became a fighting accountant. After training, I was first stationed at Scott AFB in Belleville, Illinois and lived in Dupo, where I'd grown up, played basketball, and finished high school. I married my wife, Becky, in March 1969. Spent my last year in service (1971-'72) stationed in Thailand, and Becky went back to Eastern that year to finish her degree in Education.

When I returned from overseas, Becky and I lived in Dupo, where she taught school and I got a job as an auditor in the Commercial Dept. of Safeco Insurance Company in St. Louis. Work called for me to travel a lot, and I was promoted and moved to Cincinnatti in 1978. In 1985, I was again promoted and moved, this time as Branch Manager in Washington, DC.  Next in 1987, We moved to Orlando, FL, again working as a Branch Manager. In 1991 I moved up to become the Southeast Division Manager in Atlanta, GA. One of the things I liked to do when I had some spare time on the road was visit college campuses. I've seen 55 in total, from Washington to Yale and Minnesota to Florida.

In 1993, I was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy and continued to work until 2000, when I took a medical retirement - - completing almost thirty years working for Safeco. More recently only a few years ago, I contracted Lymphoma. I got through the Chemotherapy and have been in remission for about 6 months. I am doing well. I still get around albeit with leg braces and forearm crutches. The Mongoose may be slowing down physically, but my mind still operates about on a par with an 18-year-old.

In 2010 we downsized into a small ranch to eliminate any stairs (Lives in Buford, GA). Becky had back surgery 3 years ago. That didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped, so she uses a cane to walk - - between her with the cane and I using my crutches, we make quite a pair. But we feel blessed to be doing as well as we are. We still get places, it just takes a little longer. It is fun racing those carts up and down the supermarket aisles! (Note: Former friends and workers from the Ko-Op days wanting to get in contact with Gary can email me for his address information  larrjoh@gmail.com)

Gary, Becky and David at a Georgia football game

We have one son, David (In photo at right), who lives about 20 miles away, and a grandson, 7 years old, who lives with his mother a couple of hours from us. Our grandson spends a weekend with us every 3 to 4 weeks, and we really have a good time entertaining each other. As for other interests, I used to like to play racquetball, golf, swim, and work out. I can't do any of that anymore, but spend most of my time watching sports on TV, particularly college football and basketball, and reading.

When I remember the Ko-op days, I particularly think of the great guys with whom I worked and lived. I believe Lyle said it best in that it was like a fraternity. Every day was exciting and you just knew there were going to be laughs and good times to be had.

Some random memories:

▪ Late night card games - - Western Style Guts as I recall (Did we call it IL Guts?, a variation of draw poker: 3 cards down, look at your hand, bet - dollar bets were the norm, discard then draw - - up to three, final bets, show hand, loser(s) who bet & stayed in had to match the pot; serious poker when eight or nine players circled a table in the Bahama room; sometimes the games went all night long).

▪ Listening to those Dale Carnegie records on Friday evenings (After closing at 4 p.m. and the weekly cleanup), when what we wanted was to get paid and get going.

▪ Drinking quart bottles of Meister Brau all evening, and Lyle never cutting a class.

▪ EJ Ganley drinking those milk shakes with the raw eggs mixed in them (John was trying to get his weight up for football).

▪ You and me drinking that home made wine the grad school guy brought that summer (Cannot remember his name, but he brought back the best hootch from IN. His girlfriend's father was bootlegging, and every Sunday night he brought back one or two bottles and gave them to us. Wow, what a supply, a college student's dream - - we got so that we were waiting for his return).

▪ Whitey, Lyle, and I roasting in the Bahamas, until we'd open the windows in the middle of  winter to cool down.

▪ Working out on the pin ball machines every spare minute.

▪ Jack Worthington (Now lives in Beaverton, OR) getting smashed on Mogen David (MD) between tennis matches and then throwing his racquet during the next match.

▪ Then there were the regulars, in addition to the ones Lyle mentioned (Earlier posting). Can't remember the names now, but the guy who used to smoke the long thin cigars and always had something witty to say (Believe his first name was Milt, cannot remember his last name). Joe the postman, who ate lunch there regularly and was a real nice guy. The old lady, with the open sores covered with scotch tape (My first encounter with what was probably Alzheimer's. She did love to dance and flirt in front of the juke box - - of course that was a bit discombopulatin' to us young undergrads, oh-my-heck she was in her eighties).

▪ Carl Finfrock slicing off a thin piece of his thumb into the salad during rush hour and Mize not finding it, but going ahead and putting the salad out anyway.

▪ Someone spilling hot water on Mize's chest and seeing nothing but his butt and legs sticking out of the ice machine (I was the one who turned to dump a full pitcher of scalding water out of the coffee urn, and caught Mize in the stomach as he was scurrying through!. Damn that had to hurt, but I learned of the value of immediate application of ice. Later useful when I slipped on a slick floor and put my hand into a deep fryer with oil smokin' hot at 475 degrees. Maybe I was just accident prone?).

▪ The BBQ, with ingredients like cracker crumbs, Catsup residue, chopped up day-old burgers, and the gelatin from inside the canned hams. Mize always said 'it gives it body.' To this day every time I eat BBQ, I wonder what's in it. What an energy level that guy (Mize) had, and I gotta say I sure learned a lot from him.

My wife, Becky still has a brother and sister in the Robinson, IL area, and we get up there once a year or so, but haven't been back to Charleston since I graduated. Would like to do that some day."  Gary
It's great to be back in contact with Gary; love seeing his family, reading about his life, and learning that he has not lost any of that wonderful spirit and unique sense of humor. He made me laugh and smile.