Obituary - Agnes Cook

Agnes Cook, 95, passed quietly Friday afternoon, April 23rd, at Northern Montana Care Center.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m., Friday, May 7, 2021 at the Van Orsdel United Methodist Church in Havre.

Holland and Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements and services.

Please visit Agnes' online memorial page at http://www.hollandbonine.com to leave a message of condolence for her family.

Agnes was born at home September 28, 1925, in Havre, Montana, the oldest of seven children, and went to school in Havre. She and her sister Lillian began their teaching careers in Kremlin, in a one-room schoolhouse.

Agnes stopped teaching for a few years when she married Edward Cook in 1945. Together they raised five children: Margaret (Dennis) Berg, Robert (Jeri) Cook, James (Darla) Cook, Bonnie (Joseph) Parenteau, and David Cook.

As her children got older, Agnes went back to school and got her required teaching degree. She taught first grade at St Jude's Catholic School then transferred to Havre Public Schools, finishing her career at Lincoln-McKinley School in 1984.

Among her many interests, she loved to square dance, as a member of Havre's club and going to Chinook for joint club dances. Sewing her square dance dresses and mending clothes was also one of her many talents. Gardening was a huge part of her life. Not only did she grow vegetables for everyone, especially rhubarb and zucchini, but she had a wide variety of flowers and bulbs. She had mint, tulips, irises, daffodils, raspberries, and strawberries. She participated in the Retired Teachers Association, enjoying all the continuing education they provided. Agnes took courses like Elderhostel at Northern Montana College, and always enjoyed a lifetime of learning.

She was fortunate to travel all through the United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. She visited the deserts of Utah and Arizona, the Branson, Missouri area, the Fall Foliage of New England and the tours highlighting the history of New York, Boston, and D.C. She visited the lovely Hawaiian Islands of Oahu and Maui and the majestic state of Alaska, where she took a ferry ride to visit Denali.

She was most devoted to her religion. Agnes and Ed were lifetime members of Van Orsdel United Methodist Church and could be found Sundays at church. She was an active volunteer offering to do many of the jobs in the Church and was a member of the ladies' circle group.

Agnes helped care for her father-in-law, her mother, and her brother, Richard in her home as the need arose. When she needed assistance, her daughter Bonnie and son David helped her at her home for one year prior to her living with Bonnie and Joe for the past eight years. Moving to Helena, seven years ago was a big change but she was blessed with helping raise two beautiful great-granddaughters, Ainsley and Berkley Otterstrom. She loved going for drives, especially through the canyon, from Helena to Great Falls, watching the mountains give way to the plains she knew so well. Annual trips to Hobson, Chinook and Havre were her favorites, and she did slowly come around to camping, as long as it was with Ainsley and Berkley. Taking a camping trip to Idaho for her grandson Mike and Chelsey Cooks wedding was a must do. Agnes was able to attend six of her grandchildren's weddings.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Wilfrid and Margaret Tow; her husband, Ed; sister Lillian Daley; brother Richard Tow; and her daughter, Margret Berg.

She still to the very last enjoyed visits from her remaining siblings, Rachel Mikkelsen, Alice and Max Conner, Raymond and Carrie Tow, and Charles and Monie Tow. She has lots of nieces and nephews and eight grandchildren who visited her often, usually at a family dinner she prepared at her home in Havre.

Agnes has eight grandchildren, Scott (Trinity) Cook, Angela (Jack) Heffern, John Parenteau, Rebecca (Jim) Gregg, Stacey (Odie) Otterstrom, Mike (Chelsey) Cook, Melissa (Jamie) Morton, and Derrick Parenteau; five great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.

In lieu of flowers, a donation can be sent to: Van Orsdel United Methodist Church, c/o Agnes M. Cook memorial, 410 5th Ave. Havre MT 59501.