Ruth Eileen (Clark) Cooke

Ruth Eileen Cooke née Clark, age 77 of Clayton formerly of Dover, Delaware, passed away suddenly November 27, 2018.  Ruth was born in Chapleau, Ontario, Canada, and grew up in North Bay, Ontario. She was a gifted pianist as a child and an elementary teacher in northern Ontario schools as a young adult, including a rural one-room schoolhouse.

Ruth married her late husband, James, in 1964 while he was stationed in North Bay. Ruth and Jim travelled the world while he served our nation in the United States Air Force. They settled in Camden, Delaware, in 1974 where she became an active member of Whatcoat United Methodist Church. They moved their young family to Dover in 1979, and returned to northern Ontario every summer to spend time at their cottage on Lake Talon.

Ruth was proud to become a naturalized American citizen in 1987. She was an avid reader throughout her life. Though quiet by nature, her quick wit, creativity, wry sense of humor, and loyalty as a friend will be sorely missed by those closest to her.

Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, Albert Clark and Mary Reicker Clark, and her husband of 37 years, James L. Cooke.  She is survived by her loving children, Catherine Cooke (Christopher Mattingly) of Washington, D.C., and Jason Cooke (Katie) of Clayton, Delaware; grandchildren, James Rhys, Henry Gray, David Boyd, and William Quincy; a brother, Frederick Clark (Suzanne), and sister, Carolyn Tebbutt, both of Toronto; numerous nieces and nephews and treasured extended family in Canada, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.  Ruth was a dear friend to Sharron Stevens of Sudbury, Ontario, and the late Gloria Ranney of North Bay.

Funeral Services will be held at 12:00 noon on Friday, December 7, 2018, at Pippin Funeral Home, 119 West Camden Wyoming Avenue, where friends may call starting at 10:00 a.m.  Private Interment to follow at the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Millsboro, Delaware. 

Memorials may be made to the Camden-Wyoming Lions Club. P.O. Box 246, Camden-Wyoming, DE  19934.  Share a memory at www.pippinfuneralhome.com.

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