Mrs. Millie Goodrich Cook

Amelia (Millie) Eliza Goodrich was the daughter of Rhoda Slade and George Albert Goodrich.

Two of her half sisters, Vilate and Millie, were great playmates. They played a lot in a grove of cottonwood trees on the old farm. Sarah Bingham and Ada Rasmussen were also great childhood friends and became her Sisters-In-Law. Millie and Sarah worked "in the bees" for Mr. Vangundy as young women.

Bob Allred taught Millie to play the guitar and the mandolin. She loved to play them and to sing and dance.

She had to tend her younger brothers and sisters while her mother taught school. She had but four years of education.
She supported herself while she went to college and obtained a teaching degree and taught in Vernal, Utah.

Amelia (Millie) married John H. Cook, a life-time acquaintance on March 17, 1909 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Millie was a small, wiry, quick person and John was a large strong man.

She was 26 when they married and John was 27 years old. She was sometimes told jokingly that she was an old maid but her father told her if she waited a long time and found somebody she liked, she would be glad she waited, and if she waited a long time and got someone she didn't like, she wouldn't have to live with him long anyway.

Soon after they were married they moved on their homestead at Hayden, Utah. Tragedy struck almost from the start.

Their first and third child died in infancy and their second child, Wayne Goodrich Cook, was born premature, weighing only 2 1/2 pounds. He was an invalid and sat in his wheelchair all his life. This was a "great care" for Millie and John. Three other sons, Jack, Fred, and Orlan were born in Hayden.

When Wayne was about four years old, he spent about a year in Salt Lake City where he could get medical help. John had a job grading the grounds around the Capitol building which had just been built. Wayne was able to walk some with braces and help for a few years. Jack was one year old and was taken care of by Uncle Roy and Aunt Sarah Goodrich while his parents were in Salt Lake City.

John only freighted during the winter for a few years longer, until trucks took over. Their bees didn't do much in Roosevelt but the family was contented with their two-room home and they worked hard to clear the land and Millie made a beautiful garden.

In 1924, they purchased a 1919 model T Ford and usually had some kind of automobile after that. Radios came in shortly after that. They also had a phonograph and Millie enjoyed playing many 78's (classical pieces) on it.

Millie was famous for her ice cream. She never mastered driving a car. She took out a post once (while learning to drive) and she never drove again. She rode a horse well and could handle a team with great skill.

To this union the following children were born: Reed Cook, Wayne Goodrich Cook, Millie Cook, Jack H. Cook, Fred G. Cook, Orlan Cook, Agnes Cook and Edith Cook.

Amelia Eliza Goodrich Cook, 64, a resident of Ballard for 27 years, died at 10 a.m. on January 8, 1946 at her residence of Cardiac failure due to myocarditis. Interment was made in the Roosevelt cemetery on January 11, 1946 with Dillman Funeral Home handling the arrangements.

* Check out the Goodrich Family Organization