Charles Francis Cook (1910 - 1994)

Born 7 Aug 1910 in Whitewater, Wisconsin

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 26 Dec 1994 at age 84 in Riverside, California

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Biography

Charles Francis Cook was a physicist, musician and designer of guided missiles.

He was born August 7, 1910, when his mother went into labour during a train trip home from Milwaukee. His parents stopped in Whitewater, Wisconsin for the birth, then returned to Janesville with a new son.

As he grew up, mainly in Janesville and Milwaukee, his father began to teach him lessons on the fiddle. Herbert Cook, a mechanical engineer and chemist, moved his family to Washington D.C. when he was hired by the U.S. Patent Office in 1923. With its broader range of cultural activities, Charlie flourished. Continuing with his lessons on fiddle, he also learned to play the cello and sousaphone.

While in high school, he began earning $65 a week playing with dance bands. "Tiger Rag" and "Sleepy Time Gal" were favourites. He soon found a job with the "Sleepy" Hall Band and other acts sponsored by the Music Corporation of America. Somehow, he managed to find time to complete high school in the midst of his tours across Eastern America.

While the Great Depression ruined millions of American lives, Charlie did not suffer much. He earned serious money from his music: enough to pay for a daytime physics education at George Washington University and keep him wearing snappy suits. However, his peers in the dance hall crowd lived wild lives, and he was uneasy in their company. When he was offered a spot in the new National Symphony's double bass section in 1932, he readily took it.

As the 30's came to a close, he met June Hunt, nee Smith, when she was visiting her family in Washington. He fell in love with her, and from that day worshipped her. June was in the midst of an unhappy, abusive marriage in Chicago. After their meeting, a friend told him how miserable she was in her marriage. He journeyed to Chicago, then sneaked into her house when he knew she was alone. While she worked upstairs, he sat down at the piano and began playing Beethoven's Piano Sonata, Opus 27 No.2 in C sharp minor, better known as the Moonlight Sonata. Shocked, she walked downstairs and found him playing. They fled the city together that very day, leaving her husband and young son behind.

In 1942, the United States went to war. Charlie quit his job with the symphony and was hired with the U.S. Bureau of Standards, working as a physicist on a project that would produce America's first guided missiles: the Dragon, the Pelican and the Bat, as well as the world's first six degree of freedom guided missile simulator. His job took him to many military bases around the U.S., and on one occasion, nearly took his life when a dummy Dragon missile almost collided with his observation station.

After the war, Charlie continued to work with the Bureau of Standards. When the Bureau of Standards moved to Corona, California in 1951, he took his family, including wife, mother, father, and four children to reside in Riverside, California. There he continued to work with The Bureau of Standards, the U.S. Navy, and Motorola, working on many different missiles and the 1 mm wave sensor, which allowed targeting using the 1 mm region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Later, Charlie became an expert in microwave radiometry. MICRAD is able to detect terrain using radio waves, regardless of weather, snow cover, and darkness. Once again, his work took him all over the country, including Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. Throughout this time, he maintained his love of music, playing with string quartets and orchestras around Riverside.

Charlie retired in 1977, with plans to make music the focus of his life. However, he began to suffer symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. The disease struck suddenly and prevented him from pursuing his retirement dreams. He was unable to play his instruments, and eventually unable to move independently. He was in constant pain. Tinnitus grew worse in his ears and prevented him from even enjoying the music he once loved.

June cared for him for as long as possible as the disease worsened, cooking for him, cleaning him up, helping him walk, and lifting him out of bed. Swimming eased his pain somewhat and kept him active in is twilight years. He was also able to escape through reading, and would eagerly, though haltingly, indoctrinate all listeners on the literary supremacy of Isaac Asimov. Charles passed away in 1994.^[1]

Charlie cared about his job, and worked so eagerly that his colleagues thought him a brown-noser. He tended his children's upbringing with care. He had three loves, music, science, and his wife, June.

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Sources

• United States Census, 1920 index and images, FamilySearch, Charles Cook in household of Herbert L Cook, Madison Ward 7, Dane, Wisconsin, United States; citing sheet 18B, family 439, NARA microfilm publication T625, FHL microfilm 1821981.

• United States Census, 1930 index and images, FamilySearch, Charles F Cook in household of Herbert L Cook, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0279, sheet 1A, family 3, NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 299.

• Undated clipping from The Rocketeer, the newspaper of China Lake Air Force base, probably published sometime in the mid-1970's.

• State of California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.

Footnotes

1. ↑ California, Death Index, 1940-1997 index, FamilySearch, Charles Francis Cook, 26 Dec 1994; citing Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Jeremy Cook for creating Cook-6975 on 21 Aug 13. Click the Changes tab for the details on contributions by Jeremy and others.