Abigail Webb "Gayle" Cook, 79, a Fort Worth native, succumbed to a prolonged battle with cancer Sunday, June 22, 2014, at her home. Memorial service: 11:30 a.m. Saturday at All Saints Episcopal Church. Graveside service will be at 10:15 a.m. Saturday in Greenwood Memorial Park. Visitation: 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Thompson's Harveson & Cole Funeral Home. Honorary pallbearers will be Willis Brown, Roger Moore, Robert A. Estrada, Trey Mosier, Buck Mosier, Daniel Teczar, Daniel Browne, Matt Spannaus, Joel Denofrio and Phillip Massad. Born Dec. 27, 1934, she was the last surviving sibling of her parents, Alvin Chester and Bonnie Webb, who predeceased her, as did her three older sisters and one brother. She was a 1953 graduate of Arlington Heights High School and received a degree in elementary education from Texas Tech University in 1957 and her master's degree from Texas Christian University in 1970. Additional graduate studies and certifications in education, speech therapy, language skills and audiology were the equivalent of what would now constitute a doctorate in speech therapy. She served generations of local students as a speech therapist in the Fort Worth Independent School District for 35 years and was a member of the American Speech and Hearing Association since 1970. Speaking of Gayle Cook's retirement from Fort Worth ISD at age 70, her daughter, Catherine, remarked that "Mother could not stand it for more than three months, and quickly went to work as a speech therapist at Broadway Plaza in Fort Worth, working with stroke victims and gaining a whole new class of appreciative pupils whose lives were greatly improved by her amazing skills!" She served residents at Broadway Plaza for seven years. Gayle Cook's devotion to speech therapy was truly passionate and she developed lifelong friendships with fellow FWISD teachers, many of whom called on her repeatedly in recent times, and she delighted in attending reunions of her Arlington Heights High School graduating class. Summer time visits to the family condo in her beloved Acapulco, Mexico, were very satisfying breaks from her career in speech therapy, especially when her grandchildren were able to share in the celebration. Survivors: She is survived by her husband, Samuel Edward "Ed" Cook, whom she married in 1958; her children, Catherine Bernell Estrada and her husband, Robert A. Estrada, Esq., Samuel Edward "Sam" Cook Jr. and his wife, Dr. Susan Linder, and Bonnie Cook Mosier, all of Fort Worth; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Published in Star-Telegram on June 25, 2014