Services for Richard Cook, 39, Media, PA, will be at 2 pm Monday July 16th at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home.
Richard passed away Monday, July 2, 2012 in Media, PA.
He was born June 20, 1973, in Ottawa, KS, the son of Robert and wife Barry Cook, and Jeannie and husband Walker Hendrix. He graduated from Ottawa High School in 1991 and earned the following degrees: English Literature from the University of Kansas in 1996, Health Information Technology from Washburn University in 2009, and was accepted into the Health Information Management graduate degree program at Drexel University this 2012.
Richard was employed for eleven years at Lawrence Memorial Hospital before moving to Philadelphia to work as a Health Information Management Supervisor with Kindred Hospital. He was currently employed at Hahnemann University Hospital.
He will be lovingly remembered. Richard was an avid fan of both the Jayhawks and the Pittsburg Steelers. He had an incredible passion and appreciation for music and literature.
In addition to his parents, other survivors include his grandmothers Alpha Cook of Anthony, Gladys Lane of Ottawa, his sister Stacy, her husband Daniel and their two sons Jonah and Eli Roman, step brothers Ben, Drew, and Will Hendrix, as well as many beloved aunts, uncles, and cousins.
The family has requested donations be made in Richard’s memory to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, sent in care of the funeral home.
I worked with Richard at LMH as a coder and kept in touch with him after he moved. To be complimented by Richard is a great privlege and I received a compliment from him when he left LMH (which I already had). He wrote to me, ” One of the best things that happened to him at LMH was meeting me…” He even went on to say that I was bright and was a mentor. These meant and still means the world to me. We spent many hours talking about life, work, health and dogs. He was extremely bright, infectious laugh, deadpan humor and slightly imtimidating. After our relationship grew, I realized that he was really just a little kid with a big heart, afraid of getting hurt. I will miss him very much!
Bob, Jeannie, and Stacy,
My thoughts and prayers are with you at this time. Though I left Ottawa nearly 25 years ago and only saw Richie from time to time after that I still have vivid memories of our childhood friendship. I can still picture the homes we grew up in and the good times we shared. This includes the Pittsburgh Steelers, Spiderman, youth baseball with our dads as coaches, and Friday Fright night. I will NEVER forget the time we went running through the field near your house and quickly found ourselves on the ground crazily scratching our legs in pain. We had been introduced to something Bob later told us was “firegrass.” Still not sure what that is, but have tried to avoid it ever since. I was excited and honored to get to visit with Bob in June at my dads retirement party. Bob, I can’t tell you how many fond memories of Richie and your family have come flooding back to me since then. I even found a few pictures in my shoebox. I am very saddened by his passing and my heart goes out to your family, but I will always cherish the joy and friendship Richie brought to my childhood. That cannot be taken away.
Bryan Duncan
Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this very difficult time. We are so very sorry for your loss.
Sincerely,
The Sharp Family
With deepest sympathy of the Elliott family: Alleyne, Chris, Kirk, Cliff and families.
I offer my sincere condolences to Richard’s family and close friends.
I first met Richie in 1980 in second grade at Eisenhower elementary school — he continued to be a classmate of mine in Ottawa up through high school. I was fortunate to reconnect with Richard a few times during the summer of 2001 when he lived in Lawrence, which led to us going to a few concerts together.
At Eisenhower, Richie had a formidable and precocious intelligence and understanding of the world. I grew to admire and at times envy him. He was already erudite, articulate and had a sharp sense of humor that was often paired with a wonderful, infectious laugh that sometimes interfered with his completing stories or jokes. During this time, I remember little Richie having to begin to bravely treat himself with insulin injections because of juvenile diabetes. I fondly recall the Eisenhower period also being the genesis of Richard’s affection for Steelers’ football, comic books, the Superfriends, and Boris Karloff-era movie monsters often featured on KCTV’s Friday Fright Night.
During middle school and continuing through high school, I shared fewer and fewer classes with Rich and our lives did not overlap often. But it was obvious he clearly valued what would become a lifelong friendship with Dan Winsky. During lunch periods, watching and listening to them regale each other and their friends with stories at the lunch table often served as entertainment for anyone within earshot. Rich also impressed me with his confidence when playing trumpet during marching and jazz band rehearsals — it was a confidence that I and many others lacked. I also recall Rich spearheading our eighth-grade English class’s home video adaptation of April Morning (a fictional book set during the Revolutionary War); I doubt I appreciated his likely significant input and direction at the time.
I sought out Richard in 2001, ten years after our high school graduation. Although we were not close friends, he was such an intriguing person to me. I was just genuinely curious to know what he was up to. Richard was a bit skeptical when I cold-called him; I recall he was a bit paranoid that I was part of a plot to get him to attend our class reunion (I wasn’t). Eventually, he welcomed me into his his home in Lawrence, where he introduced me to to his newly sober lifestyle and love of jam bands (what had happened to the Synchronicity-owning 1983 Richie that I once knew!?). I attended a Sound Tribe Sector 9 show with him in Lawrence and later a Disco Biscuits concert in St. Louis. I found that concerts and the music were very dear to Richard — they soothed him.
I had only a brief number of genuinely personal interactions with Richard. In 2001, I distinctly remember insulting him with what was, in retrospect, a careless, callous insult. Yet he apparently took pity on me and gracefully made me aware of my insult — he placed a metaphorical mirror in front of me. This particular interaction with Richard was my first lesson in self-awareness, for which I will be forever grateful, as it has made me a better human being.
I regret that I did not maintain contact with Richard these last ten years. I knew Richard to have a good heart. I feel sad that he is gone.
Jeannie and Walker,
My thoughts are with you during this very tough time.
Bob, Jeannie, Stacy & Families,
My deepest sympathy to you all. You will continue to be in my prayers, and please know, I’m here for all of you, should you need anything.
God’s Peace & Love,
“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” Marcus Tullius Cicero
Here’s my memory of Richard: lots of laughs; serious discussions on the meaning of life; advice given (mine) and rarely taken; lots of laughs. He was probably too hard on himself, and if I could have given one more piece of advice, I would have said: “Just wait – it gets easier.”
Dear Jeannie, Bob, and Stacey,
You are in our thoughts and prayers. We can’t know what it’s like to lose a child, but we went through the loss of a beloved niece at age 49 recently.
We send you our best wishes and we are most sorry for your loss. We remember Rich as a good friend and classmate with Amy.
Bob Green
Oh Stacy and family, I am so sorry! God never intended it to be this way. There were never supposed to be ambulances or hospitals. We were never supposed to get a call like the one you received. God designed our bodies to live forever and ever and no one can feel the pain like the One who created us! Our compassionate heavenly Father feels the pain to His very being today. You may cry yourself to sleep tonight but the Bible says that God sees your tears and puts them all in a bottle and one day He will wipe away every tear from your eyes & Jesus will sweep up all the pieces of your broken hearts & dreams so that nothing is lost! In a thousand, million, billion years — the sound of crying will never be heard again! We’re praying for all of you!
Bob, Jeannie, and Stacy,
Just want you all to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time. Stacy,I loved the picture you posted, he was a great big brother to you! May God bless all of you. Dennis and Margaret Katzer
Bob, Jeannie and Stacy,
Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
We remember the days of being neighbors across the street on Maple in Ottawa and having Rich as a student. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and especially with the parents, Bob and Jeannie and sister Stacy. May the good Lord provide peace and comfort to you all. Frank & Pat Garvin
To Richard’s family, my husband Jay and I had the privilege of living next door to Richard while he lived here in Media. We really enjoyed getting to know him and will miss our evening talks with him very much. Richard was a great person whose honesty and sincerity shined through. We are very sorry for your loss. Always know that Richard will be remembered by us with love and he will be missed. May God bless. you. – Janice and Jay Wallace
I had the privilege of working with Richard at LMH–he was not only a great co-worker but had a terrific sense of humor. He will definitely be missed!
We here at Hahnemann were fortunate to have recently hired Richard in our Health Information Management Department. Although he was only with us a short while he was an essential part of our team. We not only appreciated his professionalism, talent and hard work but enjoyed his sense of humor and quiet nature. On behalf of the Hospital Administration and the entire HIM Department, I’d like to extend our heartfelt condolences and prayers. Blessings and peace to his family and friends.
Although I was a classmate of Richard’s in middle school and high school and of course have so many funny memories from those days, it was only since I’d reconnected with him in the last couple of years that I began to discover all that I had missed during those early years. He continually amazed me with his genuineness and courage. His emotional honesty required that friends also confront hard truths in our own lives that we would often rather avoid. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to know him at this level and I cherish the memories and lessons learned from him. A truer friend does not exist and he will be sorely missed!
Bob, Jeannie & Stacy, I wish I had words to convey what I am feeling. What can really be said? To say that Richard was an amazing person does not come close to describing him or what he meant to those that were close to him. The impact he had on me is immeasurable and I will miss him terribly! And though his passing leaves a hole in my life, I know that I was truly blessed to be able to call him my best friend for as long as was granted me…and am still blessed with the wonderful memories that he and I shared. Please don’t hesitate to ask anything you wish of me. I am here for you and your families if you ever have need. My thoughts and my love are with you.
Jeannie, I am just so sorry. I am praying for you all. God is sufficient I know. I will keep praying. I am sending hugs too.
I remember Rich as an energetic, ornery grade schooler at VBS at Westminister Church. He always seemed to have a twinkle in his eye and a when he smiled it was an award winning one. May your memories of him sustain you and God’s love envelop you always.