While reading through some of my blog posts from the last several years, I noticed that I had not yet fulfilled my promise to write about the dedicatee of the “other” flower stand.

Three years ago I told the story of the Sheshequin church furniture that was designed by the Rev. Harry Means in the late 1950s and given in memory of various church members who had recently died.  The furniture included two flower stands, one of which was dedicated to Oscar J. Stevens.  The other was dedicated to Tom Cook.

Thomas Jefferson Cook was born in Athens in 1885, the youngest of five children of Elliot Cook (1837-1907) and Margaret Kochersperger (1850-1909).  The family home was at 207 North St. in Athens, and Tom lived there for his whole life.

Tom started working after school and on Saturdays for the Athens Daily News when he was still in high school.  There he learned the printing trade, which he practiced for most of his adult life.  When the Daily News was bought by the Evening Times in 1918, Cook transferred to that paper as a linotype operator and machinist.  (Tom’s older brother Frank Cook was the general manager of the Evening Times in the 1940s and 1950s.)  In 1924 Tom Cook was promoted to foreman of the composing room, a position he held until his retirement in 1956.

Tom joined the Athens Universalist church in 1905.  His parents, and three of his four siblings were also members.

Tom Cook held many leadership positions in the church.  He was first elected a trustee in 1906.  He served as trustee, treasurer, and president of the congregation at various times over the next fifty years.

Tom was also active in the local North Branch Association (NBA), which was composed of the four Universalist congregations in Bradford county – Athens, Sheshequin, Standing Stone, and Towanda.  The association fostered connection and support among the member congregations.  Cook served as Moderator and Treasurer of the NBA several times.

At an NBA meeting in 1930, Tom Cook recommended the formation of a “Layman’s League” and “stated his willingness to foster such an organization.”  A formal NBA Men’s Association was eventually established in 1945.  Tom Cook was a leader in that group.

After their meeting house was sold in 1948, the Athens members attended services in Sheshequin but remained a separate entity for the next 17 years.  They continued to hold annual meetings, which were probably very brief.  Tom Cook was elected President in 1951 and served until 1958.

At the time of Tom’s retirement from the Evening Times in 1956, he was described by a colleague “as a friend of every man and woman with whom he has worked…  There is not a single one who cannot remember acts or words of kindness, of cooperation and of help with which he has been so liberal over the years, the readiness he has always shown to share the burdens and problems of others.”

Tom Cook died on Apr. 22, 1959, after suffering a heart attack.

Tom Cook’s flower stand now sits on the landing of the stairs leading from the main entry of the Spalding Library to the Tioga Point Museum on the second floor.