Palestine High School Alumni Association

07 / 07 / 1934  –  08 / 05 / 2007

Life celebration memorial services for Betty Carol Cooke of Diboll will be held at 10 a.m. Aug. 8 at the Carroway-Claybar Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Dan Manuel, minister of the Crockett Rd. Church of Christ in Palestine officiating. Interment will be at the Garden of Memories cemetery just south of Lufkin immediately following.

Mrs. Cooke was born September 7, 1934 in San Antonio to William Lawrence Fagan and Mary Elizabeth (Scofield) Fagan who made their home largely in Palestine where Mr. Fagan was an official with the Missouri-Pacific Railroad.

Mrs. Cooke passed away Aug. 5 at the family residence in Diboll exactly 50 years following the death of her father.

Betty and Stacy Cooke, her husband, would have celebrated their 50th year of marriage on Aug. 24. They moved to Diboll from Dallas in 1961 and have made their home there continuously since that year. They met in 1954 when both were students at the University of North Texas where they graduated in 1957.

Betty received her Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology with her last year of studies in residence at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. While she retained her interest in the medical field her primary love was her family and home.

She was a devoted mother and grandmother taking delight in their welfare and guidance. As a faithful Christian she taught children’s Bible classes many years at the Diboll Church of Christ. A loving and devoted wife to her husband, she was always supporting him in his endeavors, and as it is written in Proverbs 31, “the heart of her husband safely trusts in her” – and she was the joy of his life.

In addition to Mr. Cooke, survivors include: son and daughter-in-law, Douglas and Laura Cooke of Greenwood, Ark.; daughter and son-in-law, Anne and Mark Christian of Lufkin; daughter and son-in-law, Carol and Jimmy Mettlen of Diboll and son and daughter-in-law, Kyle and Ginger Cooke of Mansfield. Also surviving Mrs. Cooke are sisters Mary Jane and husband Paul Banister of Amarillo and Martha Ann and husband Artis Mosley of Huntsville. Grandchildren include Steven and wife Morgan Lumbley, Marci and husband Scott Crumley, Mac, Marcus, and Sarah Cooke, Ethan Mettlen and numerous nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be Mac Cooke, Marcus Cooke, Steven Lumbley, Ethan Mettlen, Scott Crumley and Jimmy Mettlen.

The family will receive visitors from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to The Hospice in the Pines, 116 S. Raguet, Lufkin, TX 75904.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Carroway-Claybar Funeral Home, Lufkin.
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Source: Palestine Herald-Press 08-07-2007