Loving husband and father, Fred Cook, 78, of Chanute, passed away Thursday, October 29, 2009, at the Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center in Chanute.

He was born Aug. 2, 1931, in Benedict, the son of William “Bill” and Zola Cook. He graduated from Benedict High School where he met and married Marjorie Evelyn Lewellen on Nov. 17, 1950. They were married 59 years and had daughters Pamela Deanne and Sherry Zolena.

Fred served in the U.S. Army in the Korean War from 1950 to 1952. He was a member of the American Legion, and the VFW, where for the past six years he was the Commander of the VFW, running the bingo program.

Fred worked for AT & SF Railroad as a telegraphic operator and a switchman in Chanute, worked construction in Wichita and he was a dispatcher for the City of Chanute Police Department and the Kansas Highway Patrol for many years.

Family who will miss him greatly are his loving wife Marjorie, daughters and sons-in-law, Pamela and Randy Cole, Hoyt, Sherry and J.B. Welch, Neosho, Mo.; four grandchildren, Shawndee (Cole) Knight and her husband Mike, Lees Summit, Mo., Stanton Cole and his wife Summer of Bonner Springs, Alaina (Welch) Eastman and her husband Scott, Joplin, Mo., and Austin Welch, Neosho, Mo.; seven great-grandchildren, Grace, Corynn, Abigayle, Ethan, Conlan, Cole and Hutson; brothers and sisters, Dale Cook, San Diego, Calif., Richard Cook, Godley, Texas, Billy Cook, Bonner Srings, Melvern Cook, Warsaw, Mo., Norma Wescott, Chanute, Juanita Ropp, Fredonia, and Betty Hash, Neodesha.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Willis and Hubert Cook and a sister Marybelle.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, at the First Baptist Church in Chanute. Burial will follow in the Altoona Cemetery.

The family will receive friends on Sunday, Nov. 1, from 2 until 4 p.m. at the Penwell-Gabel Gibson Chapel.

Memorials in his name may be made to the American Cancer Society and may be left with the funeral home.

Penwell-Gabel Gibson Chapel is in charge of arrangements.