Lynn Vincent Cook's Obituary
Lynn Vincent Cook, age 64, of Big Rapids, passed away on Monday, August 20, 2012 at the Meijer Heart Center/Spectrum Health Butterworth campus in Grand Rapids. He was born on January 14, 1948 in Big Rapids, the son of Vincent and Irene (Doney) Cook. Lynn graduated in 1966 from Big Rapids High School, attended Ferris State College for several years. He went to work for the Big Rapids Police Department in 1968 as a dispatcher and then at age 21 became a police officer. He worked his way through the ranks and retired in 1999 as Deputy Director. He served the Department as Interim Director for one year during his tenure at BRDPS. Upon retiring in 1999 he went to work for the Elks National President as Administrative Assistant. He was currently the Exalted Ruler for Big Rapids Elks Lodge 974, serving his third term and served as State President for the Michigan Elks Association in 2002-2003. In June 2006, he became Executive Director of the Michigan Elks Major Project, Special Needs Childrens' Program which he was currently serving in that capacity. Lynn loved to hunt, fish, spend time with friends within the Elks organization and family as grandpa and chief cook. He is survived by Brenda, his wife of 41 years, two daughters, Stacey (Michael) Gunn and Terri (Chris) Raffel both of Big Rapids, four granddaughters, Elizabeth Cook, Nevaeh Cook, Ryleigh Cook, and Lindsey Raffel. One sister, Mary Lou (John) Arnold of Manistique, one brother John (Terri) Cook of Big Rapids, brothers and sisters-in-law, Doug (Angie) Smith, Linda (Charles) Curtis, Karen (Scott) Morningstar and Tammi (Matt) Preston, niece Cathy (Kenny) Warner of Mt. Pleasant and nephews Christopher, Andrew, and Tyler Cook of Big Rapids. Lynn was preceded in death by his parents. Funeral services will be at 11:00am Thursday August 23, 2012 at the Mohnke Funeral home in Big Rapids. Visitation will be Wednesday from 3 to 6 pm at the funeral home with the Elks Lodge of Sorrows to take place at 6 pm. Memorial contributions may be made to the Michigan Elks Major Project.
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