September 29th, 2017
Friday 1:00 pm

San Ysidro Church

5015 Corrales Road
Corrales, NM 87048

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Mountain Rescue Aspen at: mountainrescueaspen.org

 ~ Adam Reed ~

David James Cook was a remarkable person and he led a remarkable life. 

I had the great fortune to get to know Dave over the course of nearly 20 years.  As our families grew and grew up together, we shared many memorable events.  Our weddings, the birth of our children, their baptisms, vacations and trips.  In fact, my earliest memory of Dave is from a trip to Israel when I first met him.  All wonderful memories to think back on.  But it really is the day to day contact with a remarkable person that reveals what it means to live a great life.  Hopefully we all take the opportunity to learn when we come in contact with such people.  I’d like to share a few of the lessons from my friend Dave and a life well lived.

Dave did not take half measures.  After receiving his Bachelor’s degree from Baylor, Dave went on to attain the rank of Captain in the US Marine Corps.  He next earned his Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management from the University of Texas.  Dave would go on to have a successful career at Intel and I have no doubt that he would have achieved great things had he remained at Intel.  Instead Dave sought to have a larger impact, to create something more meaningful.  He would go on to start his own company, Right Sized Inventory.  It is a rare thing to be able to shape a dream into a vision.  To transform a vision into reality.  Dave was able to make this happen through his focus and tenacity, traits he also possessed in other facets of his life. 

Whether climbing, playing golf, skiing, running or biking, Dave sought to be more than accomplished.  I knew him to be an avid reader who always wanted to be learning.  I can recall him telling me about teaching himself to take an engine apart and rebuild it again.  Dave was driven to excel.  Many of the driven people I have encountered are unable to truly enjoy life along the way.  This was certainly not the case for Dave.

Dave fully embraced the spice of life.  He always had a smile on his face and I can’t recall actually ever seeing him angry.  His dry sense of humor and infectious laugh will always be remembered.  Over the years we went to many live sporting events (including countless youth soccer games).  We went to movies, played golf and frequently shared great meals together. We started going to the Fiery Foods Festival when Dave still worked for Intel and didn’t miss going until last year.  He was always up eager to try the craziest stuff (sauces I would never attempt) and would always strike up conversations with people he would encounter at the event.  In fact, there were several regular vendors who knew Dave and would greet him like an old friend.  Dave ensured fun extended to everyday events as well.  He never said no when our children wanted to spend time together. 

The last time I saw him was at one of our sons’ soccer games after which he happily took them home to spend a Saturday afternoon together.  He and Mo have become friends to so many people and I believe Dave truly recognized that life is for sharing joy and fun with friends and family.

Nothing is more important than family.  Dave’s life demonstrated this lesson most of all.  Dave was a loving and devoted son, brother and uncle.  After he and Mo were married, Dave became a faithful son-in-law and a true brother-in-law.  But nothing revealed Dave’s remarkable life more than his loving marriage and the family he and Mo created together.  He was an incredible husband to Mo and a role model father to Kate, Ryan and Sara.  They have created a family that will positively impact others far into the future.  Our family will always cherish the time we have been able to spend with them.

 I believe we will all take away more than great memories of the time we spent with Dave.  He left us an example of what it means to live a truly remarkable life. 

~ Ken North ~

Good Afternoon - My name is Ken North and I am a friend and colleague of Dave’s.

October will mark the 17 Year anniversary of when Dave became my manager.

I want to warn you that this may be a bumpy ride, I am passionate and emotional.  There will be crying and there will be nose blowing, so I am asking for your forgiveness in advance.

I imagine some of you may share the memories and feelings expressed here and they may bring back thoughts of when you first learned that Dave was missing.

I want to start by thanking Dave for sending me to Toastmasters and for putting me through the sheer terror of presenting to the Eclipse Executive Staff every morning.  Hopefully that has prepared me for what I am about to attempt.

On Sept. 30th of 2016, I received a phone call from my friend Kevin Diamond, another individual that Dave Cook influenced in a positive manner, Kevin informed me that Dave had gone missing in the mountains of Colorado and that the search was being suspended. “Suspend the Search?” How can they suspend the search?  Get up there, Rescue him and get him back to Mo and the Kids.

Then it hit me like a Ton of Bricks, “Mo and the Kids”.  Oh My God, what are they going through, how are they dealing with this?  How are they going to survive this?  My heart sank and I began to weep.

Not long after I met Dave in 2000, he told me about how his father had passed away when Dave was a very small child.  I could not imagine what that would have been like.  Now I am trying to imagine the Loss, the Pain, the Sorrow and Confusion that Mo and the kids are dealing with every day.

After my panic settled, I sat down and I wrote a letter and addressed it to Dave, as if he would be reading it.  The subject line in the letter was “My Dear Friend”.  Following are some of the excerpts from the letter.

Dave, for 8 years you were my manager with 2 different companies.  We shared so many enormous successes together.  You were my Manager, my Mentor and my Friend.  You expanded my knowledge and grew me in the ways of business and logistics.  All of the great successes that I have had in my career I attribute to you, your style of management, training and leadership.

Our offices were next to each other when we were at Intel.  One day a frustrated Fab employee approached you and stated that “Ken is never in his office; do you know where he is”? Your reply was “I don’t know where Ken is, but wherever he is, the Job is getting Done”.  That comment demonstrated the confidence that You had in me and also the trusting relationship we shared.

When you hired me at Eclipse Aviation, I had already been labeled as “Dave’s Boy”.  I was honored to be called that.  My first day I get to my desk and I had a laptop with a docking station, a landline phone and a cell phone.  Other folks around me had been waiting for weeks or even months to get their cell phones.  It made me grin from ear to ear knowing that I was blessed to be back working for the greatest Manager that ever lived.  Dave did not procrastinate, he wanted things done right and ensured that his employees were equipped to be successful.

Here are some things that I remember

The last time I saw you was April 7th of 2016 before I moved to Arkansas.  I came by your house.  You had new goats, some chickens, some rabbits and a new hay barn.  It was a regular Sunnybrook Farm.  I stood talking to Mo while Kate was in the pen with a big ole pregnant goat.  You showed me your new office set up for video conferencing and making training videos.  You always did things right and better than anyone else.

Maureen, Kate, Ryan and Sara, thank you for allowing me the honor to speak today.

I miss my friend.

~ Maureen Cook ~

Thank you Adam and Ken.  And thank you all for being here.

A week ago, I didn’t think I would be able to get up here and speak in front of you all, but as the kids and I discussed what we wanted to share, I found strength, a strength I haven’t felt in over a year.  Strength because when we talk about Dave and hear stories about Dave, we laugh, we smile, and we feel him. 

Not knowing what exactly happened in the mountains of Colorado last year has weakened us and changed our perspective on how things work in this world, but deciding to have this Memorial feels like a step in the right direction on an unclear path.  We want to celebrate Dave and reflect on all that he gave during his life with us.

Dave and I met 20 years ago when we both worked at Intel.  We lived in different states, but quickly hit it off – having many similar likes, but some not so similar like his rockclimbing and running triathalons – Our core values aligned and we knew it was a relationship that was going to last a long, long time. 

We experienced our first cell phones together, learned about the internet and newly introduced “Email” …these were an integral component of our relationship as we spent our first year apart while he worked for Intel in Malaysia and I worked for Intel in Israel.  I truly feel that the communication lessons we learned in our first year is one reason we had such a well-built marriage.

Dave and I had a strong love.  A love that often came easy, but when our relationship needed work we were both fiercely committed to getting through no matter what.  4 years into our marriage, we heard the phrase, “why have a mediocre marriage when you can have a great marriage” and that stuck with us and became an elemental motto throughout our years together. 

He understood me, supported me and loved me unconditionally.  He taught me to be more patient, positive and to be pro-active vs sitting back and letting life pass you by.  We grew into adulthood together in such an awesome way.  We were a great team, so good at making decisions together.  Some of the best decisions we made, resulted in our 3 beautiful children. 

Dave loved being a father and he taught Kate, Ryan & Sara so much in the short time they had with him.  They remember him most for his humor, his perseverance, his love for the outdoors (especially the mountains), his desire to get as much done during daylight hours as possible, and his love for learning & reading whenever there was a spare moment. 

They also remember the 8 Missions that Dave had posted in his home office.  He used these missions as his guiding principles.  He created them so that he could challenge himself to be better and stronger both mentally and physically.  As Adam mentioned, Dave did not take half-measures.  

Dave, I love and miss you.  I miss being Mo & Dave, and having you as our guide in faith and love and being our fearless leader of The Cook Family.  I am so grateful for the 19 years we had together, but I wish we could have had 50 more.   

MO:  Lastly, we want to say thank you to everyone who is here today and who has supported us and loved us over the past year.  Until something tragic happens to you, you don’t realize how broken you can be and how much help is needed to keep you afloat.  So, thank you for every gentle touch, text, letter, help with the kids, the house, the animals, the yard and most notably all of the meals (these brought us so much comfort when nothing else could).  Thank you from a very deep place in our hearts.