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| Marilyn in High School |
Marilyn
Lucille Cook was born May 10, 1935 in Idaho Falls to Norman Williams Cook and
Lenna Mae Jacobson Cook. From the beginning, her family began calling her
“Mickey,” a nickname that most of us affectionately still know her by. She was
the second of 3 beautiful girls. Colleen is her older sister and Sunny, the
younger sister.
Colleen and Grandma
were closer in age, so they had lots of adventures growing up. Once they were riding on Colleen’s bike, and
the two crashed on Boulevard. People stopped to ask if they were ok. Colleen
was embarrassed, and quickly said “We're ok, we’re ok.” To which Mickey replied
“No we are NOT! We’re hurt! We need
help!”
Sometimes
she and Colleen, being just a few years apart, didn’t always get along. Colleen
had a beautiful pea coat that Mickey wanted desperately to wear. Colleen
wouldn’t let her wear the coat, because she said grandma always spilled and got
everything dirty. They got in a big fight, and Colleen ended up getting a good
whipping because of it. Mickey always felt guilty afterward since the whole
thing was actually her fault.
That wasn’t
the only time she managed to pin one of her escapades on Colleen. Once during
the summer, she and a friend were hanging around the old East Side school
building. The two girls entertained themselves by breaking out some of the
windows of the building. She was scared to death when the police showed up, but
luckily for her, they thought Colleen was the little vandal. By the time her
parents figured out that she was the guilty party, she was headed down to West
Point, Utah, to stay with her grandparents for a week, so she got away with the
whole thing without getting in trouble.
Every summer
growing up, the Cook family made the trips to the Jacobson family reunion in
Bear Lake. She had many fond memories there, playing with cousins. Bear
Lake always held a special place in her heart.
Some of her
favorite childhood memories were from spending time with her grandmother and
grandfather Cook in West Point. She and her sisters would each take turns
visiting for a week or so during the summers. They picked raspberries and corn,
learned how to keep house, clean, can, garden, and had lots of fun. Her time at
her grandparents’ house helped her develop her amazing work ethic that I always
admired.
In 1950, she
got her first job at age 15 working at the Rio Theater on Broadway downtown.
Several years later, she began working at the Motor Vu Drive In Theater, and
continued there until 1977. My dad,
David Jr and Tami also had opportunities to work at the MotorVu. After nearly 3
decades of working the theaters, she was quite the movie star aficionado.
In 1953, she
graduated from Idaho Falls High School. She was a proud to be a member of the
first class to graduate from the new school building. She was the first of many Idaho Falls High School alumni in the
family, Kelsey graduated from IF, as well as several grand-kids and nieces and
nephews.
After
graduation, on December 28, 1953, she married David Lewis Bailey. Soon after
they were married, she and David moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he served in
the US Navy. Mickey always had a great sense of style, and while in Memphis,
she worked in a fine clothing shop.
After
Memphis, Mickey and David moved to the naval base at Corpus Christi, Texas.
While there, their first son, David Jr. was born. She adored her new baby, but
struggled being away from her family with a newborn. After Corpus Christi, the
young family moved to Alameda California before David Sr. retired from the Navy
and moved back home.
A short time
after they returned to Idaho Falls, Mickey and David moved into a little yellow
house on Bremer Drive. They soon welcomed their second child, a girl, Tami.
Mickey was a
great mother, to not only her own two children, but was a second mom to her
younger sister Sunny as well. When Sunny was in high school, there was a time
when group of girls were mean to her, and Mickey went to pick her up from
school every day so she could be sure Sunny was ok. Sunny spent lots of time with Grandma and the
kids as they were growing up and I know grandma treasured that time.
After
several years of living in the little house on Bremer Drive, Mickey and David
set out to build their own home in a lot on 20th street. They got the whole
family involved in the project, with her Uncle Ren as the general contractor, a
cousin, Larry Grimmett was the builder.
They did all sorts of work themselves, from salvaging and cleaning each
and every brick to staining all the beautiful woodwork on the interior of that
home.
A few years
later, Grandma had her last baby boy, Kelsey. She loved to spoil all her
children, and Kelsey was DEFINITELY no exception. Being 10 years younger than
Tami, and 13 years younger than David Jr., he was doted on by both Grandma and
Grandpa.
In 1973,
Mickey, David, and David Jr. opened Phase 4 Stereo. She was the secretary and
bookkeeper. The first few years were a
struggle, but with the characteristic Bailey family tenacity, creativity, and
hard work, they built the business that is still operating today. She spent
countless hours working on the books to keep the business afloat. Even after
the age of computers, she always kept two sets of books, one on the computer,
and one off. She didn’t trust the computer to do as good of a job as she would.
I remember her taking her books home at night and watching her diligently pouring
over them in her chair.
When she
began to have grandchildren, she made it her mission in life to spoil them rotten.
More on that in a minute.
One of
grandma’s greatest attributes was her ability to care for others around
her. She always seemed to know when her
loved ones needed something, and she would do anything to take care of that
need. We saw grandma selflessly care for
Grandma Cook in her later years, along with Sunny. They were such amazing examples to all our
family of love and service. A few years
later when my Grandpa got sick she again stepped up to care for him through a
terrible injury after a fall from a ladder at Landmark, then in his final years
with open heart surgery then a struggle with Alzheimer’s. Grandpa was not always to most compliant or
patient patient, so we all know that was a difficult task.
One of the
happiest moments of her life was being sealed to her family in the Idaho Falls
Temple on December 28, 2010, on the 57th anniversary of her wedding. After she
went through the temple, she was determined to be better, and set a goal to
stop saying one her favorite expressions, it became “oh Turkey,” and she was
pretty good about keeping her goal over the last few years.
She had
several unique expressions and ways of saying things, from taking about
flossing her “goomes,” to a bottle of “Tynenol,” or “puking up a crow,” along
with many others. Anytime she spent
hours cooking a huge feast for her family, she would spend all day telling us
“we haven’t even made a dent yet!” with the follow-up, “you better fill up your
plates!" No matter how delicious we thought the food was, her fried rice
was always too salty, or her turkey was always dry. However, if someone else brought food, she
had nothing but compliments for their dish.
I have
learned a lot of things from my grandma over the years, and I just want to
share a few with you:
- If one is good, then 20 is much better, so she’d get at least 40.
- Never pay full retail for anything.
- Socks should be purchased in the dozens, especially if they are the Gold Toe brand.
- Always keep a fridge or two full of pop in case someone drops by.
- Grandpa’s big white t-shirts make the best jammies.
- Popcorn bowls should be so big you can barely wrap your arms around them.
- Always keep a pair of tweezers handy, preferably 3 or 4 pairs.
- Noodles and
butter are the ultimate comfort food.
- If you want to snitch a pecan, it better be a broken one.
- It isn’t a party unless you have approximately 9 times too much food.
Another
favorite memory was the one time she and Sunny were on their way down to
Smithfield in Utah, and somehow they got lost. They were driving around on back-roads for a while when they got pulled over. When the policeman asked them
if they knew how fast they were going, Grandma said “I don’t know…we’re lost!
Grandma then said, we have some caramel pecan rolls, here have some, they are
delicious!” The officer said “Ma’am, are you trying to bribe a police officer?
I can’t accept a bribe” Somehow, they managed to get out of the ticket, have
him lead them to where they needed to go.
I have never
known anyone more generous than my grandma. In the book “Love Languages,” the
author Gary D Chapman talks about how everyone shows love to those in their
life in different ways. My Grandma’s #1 love language was undoubtedly Acts of
Service. I am pretty sure everyone in this room has been a recipient of her
acts of service, from ridiculous amounts of caramel pecan rolls at Christmas,
to invitations to her house for some of the most delicious food you’ll ever
taste, to one or two of whatever treasure she found on clearance at Tuesday
Morning. She was always thinking of others
and what she could do to ease others burdens.
She took
generosity to a whole new level with her grandchildren. Somehow, every year,
she managed to know what the hottest toy would be for Christmas. She’d figure
this out around October, and spend the next two months making friends with the
salespeople at all the toy stores, and somehow manage to get all her grandkids
the toys that were impossible to get. And it wasn’t just one of these toys, she
would buy us all multiples if she could. From cabbage patch dolls, to Tickle Me
Elmo, to Furby, to giant Rubbermaid containers full of beanie babies. She was the kind of grandma that I know all
my friends were jealous of.
Speaking of
beanie babies, I remember going to her house on several occasions, and as soon
as we were though the front door she would say, “Want some fries?” We would
open up the fridge, and it would be completely stuffed with Happy Meal bags.
She bought them in bulk so she could get us all the beanie baby toys from the
Happy Meals.
Grandma was
funny and great to be around, you never felt out of place or uncomfortable at
her house. She was the ultimate
hostess. Many people have expressed to
me the past few days that she was always so welcoming and warm. She always had
your favorite drink or treat; in fact I am pretty sure she still has a stash of
“aged Peeps” for my dad. Not long ago, I was visiting her in the Care Center
and she looked up at me and got excited.
She said, “Kelsey got my fridge all stocked up with pop!” It meant a lot to her to be able to provide a
little bit of comfort and a treat to those around her. It didn’t stop at family either; most of us
have taken a friend or two over to Grandmas, just to get a pop. She would even wait for garbage day and run
out to the alley to give the garbage men a drink. She intensified this act as the spring turned
to summer and her garbage cans were filled more and more with yard debris.
In her later
years she had her own struggles with her health, but always managed to keep her
sense of humor and mischievous streak.
Chyna, Alex, Tai and Piper were visiting with Grandma not long ago and
Grandma looked at all of them, then said, “you know no one ever gets 4 pretty
girls, there are 3 of them that are pretty….”
she then trailed off, and when they tried to get her to tell them which of
the 4 of them were the pretty ones she would change the subject, it is still a
mystery today!
As I look
around this room I think I can safely say that everyone in this room is a
better person for knowing her, and that she touched each and everyone of us for
good. No one knows this better than
Brenan and Alli. Grandma was bound and
determined that Alli was going to marry Brenan, even when Alli wasn’t as
convinced. Grandma had the Master Plan, and as you can see, she got her way.
Grandma
loved being around her family, and she often traveled and took trips with many
of us. She was a great travel companion,
because you knew for sure that she would bring snacks. Now when I say snacks, I mean snacks, like a
convenience store full of snacks! We are
all pretty sure that her heavy purse may have contributed to her sore shoulders
as she aged. Grandma and grandpa went on
several cruises, many with friends and family.
Grandma’s most recent cruise was one she particularly enjoyed, with
several of Sunny’s family and some of the Taylor girls, and Colleen and
Bill. It was a great time for them
all.
Grandma was
a constant in our lives, you knew she would always be there. This will be one of the things I miss the
most, I knew I could always call her or drop in and she would be there. I knew that she would always have something
funny to say and then she would tell me all the stories of what everyone was
doing. She could talk for hours about
the accomplishments and endeavors of everyone in the family. It wasn’t just our immediate family, she kept
us all apprised of the goings on of the Morgan family, the Toomer family, and
even more extended family. You could
never call grandma for a quick phone call. I always made sure I had at least a
half an hour to chat.
One last fun
story, when Grandma was a younger girl she and her friend Pat, on their way
home from MIA, which is what Young Women’s used to be called, would venture
past another of the neighborhood churches.
They called this church the Holy Roller Church. Apparently, they also held meetings about
this same time of day. The circuit
breaker box was on the outside of the building so Pat and Grandma would flip
the master switch, turning out all the lights.
Then they would run as fast as they could.
In all
seriousness though, I feel extremely honored to have known her. She is who I aspire to be. I know I will miss her more than I can even
begin to imagine, and she’s left a void that will never be filled. She is
in a better place and I know the reunion with her loved ones that have gone
before was a sweet one. I am pretty sure
I could go on for days with stories, but I won’t. Instead, I hope that we can all try to take a
page from her book and care for others as she did, selflessly giving and loving
our friends and family. The world was a
better place because she was in it, and I can think of no better way to honor
her legacy and memory than to continue her generous spirit.
