Roland Allison Cook, son of Cyrus A. (1864-1946) and Mary Elizabeth (DeBois) (1864-1957) Cook, was born 19 September 1907 in Jackson County, Michigan. Roland's mother was a widow when she wed Cyrus in 1889. Roland was raised on his father's farm near Cement City, Jackson County and graduated from Michigan State College in 1928 with a B.S. in Agriculture. On 4 June 1932 Roland married Clara L. Humphries. Clara, daughter of David E. and Elizabeth A. (Kersey) Humphries, was born 8 May 1908 in Ingham County, Michigan. Clara's father, a Canadian by birth, was a tool and die maker by trade.
Roland began his career in the Okemos School system during the 1950-1951 academic year and retired from Okemos at the end of the 1969 school year.
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Sunday 12 June 1955
AGRICULTURE WITH AN URBAN TOUCH
CITY BOYS LEARN FARMING AT OKEMOS
To teach a city boy vocational agriculture may sound about as crazy as teaching tribes living on the equator how to build igloos.
That's why five years ago the Okemos Consolidated school was considering dropping the teaching of vocational agriculture altogether because of the changing population, as "city-ites" moved into suburban homes in the district.
But instead of dropping the program, the school now plans to expand it. A new vocation agricultural building has just been completed.
School officials give credit for this change of heart to Roland A. Cook, "ag" teacher, who licked the problem by changing the course to meet the demand and interest of the boys.
FARMYARDS SCARCE
Today one-quarter of the 32 members of the Future farmers of American chapter at the school are out-and-out city boys. Another 25 percent come from small non-commercial farms. The remainder are boys from large farms.
Cook, who was a practical farmer for 20 years before he took up teaching, put the co-operative idea to work in his classes to interest the boys and to provide projects by club members.
One-fourth of the boys find it impossible to raise livestock at home. Another 25 percent could do it only on a limited scale. Yet agricultural projects are a requirement to belong to FFA.
So Cook got the idea for the whole chapter to work on the projects right at the school.
First a flock of chickens was purchased with borrowed funds. The debt was paid off by selling the chickens and with prize money raised at fairs.
Later a sow and litter were bought and the debt paid off in similar fashion.
Two tractors have been obtained and their cost repiaid by plowing city gardens and renting the tractor out to the boys for various types of work.
"This is very valuable training to the boys," Cook points out. "It not only teaches them the importance of co-operation but it also teaches them buying on time, which they will do most of their lives."
CORN, HAY, BERRIES
Two sites owned by the school are planted with 20 acres of corn. Another six acres of hay is cared for by the boys, plus two acres of apple orchards.
Some of the boys expressed interest in strawberries. So the blub plowed about a quarter of an acre down by the stream behind the school football field, and strawberries will be another project.
The training teaches the city boys about fertilizer and the care of property. As part of the program Cook tries to line up work for the boys with landscape gardeners so they can put classroom work to practical use.
Cook says his idea, now being copied throughout the state, is quite simple. "These boys had to be given a field of interest. Once the need was answered their enthusiasm took over.'
George H. Richards, superintendent of the school, pointed out a far more reaching result.
"Through Mr. Cook, several of the boys who otherwise would have left school stayed because he supplied their needs."
Roland and Clara had one only child, a daughter, Lois, who was a special needs child. She lived in a special needs home in the Lansing area.
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Sunday 17 July 1960
Cook, Miss Lois L.
4447 Okemos rd., Okemos
Age 26, died July 16, 1960. Surviving are the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Roland Cook of Okemos, grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. D. E. Humphries of Detroit. Funeral services will be held Tuesday at the Gorsline-Runciman funeral home with Rev. Howard Johnson of the First Baptist church of Okemos officiating. Interment in Glendale cemetery, Okemos.
After retirement from teaching Roland built a new home out towards Mason. He also raised fine black Angus cattle
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Friday 22 March 1985
COOK, ROLAND A.
1315 STILLMAN ROAD
MASON
Age 77, died March 21, 1985. Born September 19, 1907 in Jackson County, MI. Mr. Cook was a resident of Okemos area for 46 years. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Okemos, the Lansing Farmers Club and the Farm Bureau. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Lois. Surviving are his wife, Clara; 1 brother, Forrest Cook of Grass Lake. Funeral services will be held Sunday, 4 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Okemos, 4684 Marsh Rd., Okemos with Rev. Donald D. Huffmier, Pastor officiating. Interment will be in Glendale Cemetery.
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Tuesday 20 March 2001
COOK, CLARA L.
EAST LANSING
Born May 8, 1908, in Lansing; died March 18, 2001, at the age of 92. Mrs. Cook was a member of the First Baptist Church of Okemos. She was preceded in death by her husband, Roland A. in 1985; 1 daughter, Lois; and 1 brother, Harvey. Funeral services will be held Thursday, March 22, at Noon at the Gorsline-Rumnciman Co. East Chapel, 1730 E. Grand River Ave., East Lansing, with the Rev. Douglas Phillips, officiating. Interment will follow in Glendale Cemetery, Okemos.
Diane Dean (White) (Class of 65) I had Mr. Cook for Science and he was a sweet man. He lived at the corner of our street and had a great way of showing how things should be done, rather than telling or having students read about it. My dad knew about him because he was the CFO of Michigan Farm Bureau, and Mr. Cook was known to them for his methods of teaching agriculture over the years at Okemos High School.
Rodney Ellis (Class of 65) I had Mr. Cook for 8th grade Shop in the building behind the old, old High School. He was incredibly patient and could explain things very well. He would always encourage you to try something and be complimentary regardless of the result. I can still remember the gun rack that John Dunkelberg made out of walnut and the shooting target that Steve Soltow welded together. These were projects that we initially felt were beyond our ability, but all finished with the patient encouragement of Mr. Cook.
Wally Reese (Class of 65) Roland Cook was the Dean of Agriculture Education at Okemos for 20 years.
When we first arrived at Central High-Jr. High in 7th grade, blue corduroy Future Farmers of America (FFA) jackets were as common as maroon wool and white leather sleeved varsity letter jackets among the upper classmen. By the time we entered High School the only place we saw this icon of farming community schools was at away football games in Mason, Dansville, Williamston or Howell.
In a few short years Okemos no longer boasted fields of corn and wheat but sprouted suburban housing tracts instead. Mr. Cook's classes of Agriculture 1, 2, 3 and 4 became shop and science. The Agriculture building at the new High School became Rex Harknesses Algebra domain. Classmates from farm families struggled to adapt to a curriculum of college preparation that excluded all other avenues and still does.
Mr. Cook was an important mentor to my oldest brother and by extension, me. He was probably the only student at OHS with his own tractor. I learned to drive on that Ford 8N. I spent many after school days in the Spring on the back of that tractor kicking sod clogs out of the two bottom plow preparing 20 acre fields for corn or wheat. By the time I was old enough to drive tractor by myself(6th grade) the only field I worked was five acres of lawn on a tractor with a six foot mower deck.
Early exposure to agriculture led to my fist full-time summer job at the Michigan State University(MSU) Crop Science Department pollinating corn. Starting wage was seventy cents an hour. I remember my first $100 paycheck (after deductions). That is 140 hours for the two week pay period. I was thirteen.
Thank you Mr. Cook for your contribution to my ag education and introduction to country people where your calmness, patience and integrity, especially with the children, is just the way people are.
Sherrie Paty (Barber) (Class of '66) Most of students had no idea about the Mr. Cook outside the classroom. Roland's wife, Clara, was one of the best pianists in Okemos. She could play any thing set before her. I sang in numerous contata choirs at the 1st Baptist Church in Okemos and watched in amazment when sheet music was handed to Clara and she simply played without missing a note and without a mistake. I never heard her hit an off key in all the years I listened to her play.
Few people knew Roland and Clara had only one child, a daughter, who was "special." Unfortunately Clara told a story to my mother about an incident with sissors when the daughter was a young teenager. Roland and Clara had to institutionize their child and although they visited she was never allowed home again.
Roland also raised prime registered Angus cattle in the Upper Peninsula. He was, for many years, in partnership with my brother-in-law, Bob. Later Roland moved the operation back down to the Okemos area. He loved his cattle and I can still see him leaning against a fence post watching them. My brother-in- law continues to regal the family with the tale of the Angus cow that leaped a fence line and disappeared into the "wilderness" of the UP for months. The cow would occasionally show up in some farmer's pasture and the farmer would call my brother-in-law. By the time Bob arrived the cow would have disappeared once more. The ole girl gave everyone quite the chase. She was eventually caught.....and ate.