Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

Our lives are fed by kind words and gracious behavior. we are nourished by expressions like 'excuse me' and other simple courtesies... Rudeness, the absence of the sacrament of consideration, is but another mark that our time-is-money society is lacking in spirituality, if not also in its enjoyment of life. You enjoyed your life being with your family and friends, Officer Cook. When you and Karen got married this too enhanced your relationships with others. It's important in a person's life to make friends and to keep them as they become valuable sources of where you can go for advice and of course, your spouse becomes your best friend when you enter the canopy of matrimony. I found this out when I married my lovely wife, Holly, who your niece Gina met. Now that you are resting in peace my neighbor, friend and hero, the bonds you forged here in this world are the ones who will forever remember your love and concern for their kindnesses and well-being.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 19, 2013

The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live. Your entire life and its foundation, Officer Cook, was based on the many good deeds you performed for all citizens and the grace and courage you faithfully displayed while dealing with people who had different issues. You'll never be forgotten. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 19, 2013

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. By assisting others, Officer Cook, you gained the respect and admiration of your peers and friends. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. A beautiful angel was called to take his place in God's heavenly tribunal, yourself, Officer Cook.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 19, 2013

Every human being is your counterpart. Every other human being possesses and embodies aspects of yourself: your dreams, your sorrows, your hope that your life will not turn out to be a dirty joke. God forbid. For each of us there was a time when the world was young, a springtime of spirit that was later tested by the winters of discontent; and in the midst of each of our lives lies the haunting shadow of death. Therefore we are all quite alike; indeed at the core we are all one, all lost- and found-in the same mysterious enterprise that is life. Hold this in your heart as you go about your day and the world will cease to be inhabited by strangers and the burden of life itself will no longer be a process of loneliness. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero, Officer Cook. You were a first class human being in every way, shape and manner.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 18, 2013

There is a love like a small lamp, which goes out when the oil is consumed; or like a stream which dries up when it doesn't rain. But there is a love that is like a mighty spring gushing up out of the earth; it keeps flowing forever and is inexhaustible. The light that shines ever so brightly from your very soul, Officer Cook, will never run out of energy, you see because of your energetic manner in which you truthfully carried out your duties and with a calming voice and firm leadership that neither bent nor broke. Your resolve to do things in an honest manner certainly carried clout among your peers as they can use your ideals and values as future training tools for all future officers. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 18, 2013

If you live for love you spread kindness and compassion everywhere you go. When you stop believing in your heart you are but a sterile vessel wandering in the wilderness. This is something, Officer Cook, that you and Nancy and your beloved wife, Karen were raised with and that was to pay attention to doling out both kindness and compassion. This usually helps a person make a success of themselves. You never let your parents down and your mother, Mrs. Julia Cook, let her live and be well, God bless her, misses you very much as you and Nancy were the apples of her eye as you were to your beloved father, Charles, may he rest in peace along with you my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 18, 2013

The person who doesn't fit in with our notions of who is worthy of our love-the bag lady at the corner, the strange old man who rides through town on a three-wheel bike all strung up with flags-is just the person who, by not fitting into our patterns, insists that we expand not only our views but also our capacity to love. Today, see if you can stretch your heart and expand your love so that it touches not only those to whom you can give it easily, but also to those who need it so much. That's the thing about heroes such as yourself, Officer Cook, they are always thinking outside of the box as to how they can do more for others. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 18, 2013

It is good to have an end to journey forward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. So true. Your character and upbringing reflects this Officer Cook. It defined who you were as an individual and as a police officer. There were no preconceived notions or airs about your personality. You gave every last ounce of your being each and every day and this is what matters the most. So we shall never forget your heroics and your mission in this world to stamp out evil so we as free citizens can pursue our dreams as we see fit. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Your physical trip may have ended on May 16, 1979, but your eternal journey through God's heavens above keeps on moving, as your saintly soul observes our every move to affect a positive outcome.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 18, 2013

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. And every place you and Karen went Officer Cook, you were charitable and appreciated the opportunity to help a disadvantaged person. I'm certain you were giving in other ways and this shall remain part of your legacy that we can look to in our future as the shining example of how to succeed with your life's ambitions. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 18, 2013

Some day, after you have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity we shall harness the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. Officer Cook, you discovered something not found in some officers today: Honor and integrity sprinkled with a little dignity that can take an officer a long way in their career. Officers do have to deal with fires and perhaps in your career, you too had to deal with this issue, Officer Cook and with an arson which is a very costly crime, it can take a person's life along with it. We don't want for that to happen heaven forbid. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 18, 2013

If someone comes to you asking for help, do not say in refusal, 'trust in God, He will help." Rather, act as if there were no God and no one to help except you. God was looking down on you on May 16, 1979, Officer Cook, as you were upholding the oath you solemnly took when you became a police officer. Your faithfulness to duty and not an ounce of dereliction to perform is why you my neighbor, friend and hero are held to this very day in high accord and it's fitting that on the day when you laid your life down for your colleagues and citizens of Dade County we pause for a moment of silence to remember your bravery and courage not found in many people. Rest in peace and help others from heaven, help others here in this world.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 18, 2013

If you help others, you will be helped, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in one hundred years, but you will be helped. Nature must pay off the debt....It is a mathematical law and all life is mathematics. I just wish Officer Cook, your department had purchased these side panels so necessary for an officer's survival. One inch and answering a domestic call that you had the needed expertise to deal with along with a young man whose life was off kilter. This math lesson is why today you are among God's True Blue Heroes and an angel to be sure whose solemn task is helping God keep law and order on the streets from above. Thank God you came to that scene and were so faithfully able to save your comrades lives and those of the two civilians that were present. Your colleague, Detective Don Blocker ended the life of that young man who unnecessarily ended your life and he too should be commended for standing toe to toe with evil that reared its ugliness that day. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. You put aside the math and did your job without complaining and did it the right way: Honorably and with dignity and integrity personified!

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 18, 2013

A hundred times everyday I remind myself that my inner and outer life depends on the labors of other men, living and dead and that I must exert myself in order to give in the measure as I have received and am still receiving. All people from all walks of life must be supremely grateful to God when we arise each day and thank Him for allowing us the strength to pursue our passions. You and Karen did this everyday, Officer Cook and it made you both humble and in control of your emotions which were necessary parts of the equations in your tasks. A person of the Jewish faith should recite one hundred prayers each day and I'm sure you offered blessings before you left your home to begin your shift. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. It's brought down in different writings regarding one of the Jewish faith to offer at least one hundred prayers daily. We are supposed to offer these prayers three times a day, morning, afternoon and evenings and on the Jewish Holidays including the Jewish New Year called: Rosh Hashanah and on the Day of Atonement: it's called Yom KIppur a solemn day marked by fasting and abstinence from basic pleasures over a twenty-five hour period. The fasting part of the Day of Atonement is derived from the Old Testament-The Torah itself.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 18, 2013

Kindness is more important than wisdom and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom. Your polite manners and professionalism are sorely missed, Officer Cook. Officers today, not all, but same need special instruction on the dos and don'ts. Perhaps they won't go wrong, but than to perform in a highly motivated manner as you did, may be hard to come by. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

Love is not getting, but giving. Not a wild dream of pleasure and a madness of desire-oh, no-love is not that! It is goodness and honor and peace and pure living-yes, love is that and it is the best thing in the world and the thing that lives the longest. Your love and bond with all folks from all walks of life, Officer Cook, will stay integrated in our beings as long as you my neighbor, friend and hero rest in peace and your beloved soul stays in action up above observing what we are accomplishing from time to time.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve. Your strength in service to us, Officer Cook, is the same inner strength we need to carry on your fine legacy. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes and they come back to us as effects. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. The cause and effect of your very life will always stay glued to our very souls.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

If you bring forth what is inside of you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don't bring forth what is inside of you, what you don't bring forth will destroy you. You brought your entire being to your position daily, Officer Cook and that is why you will always be endearing to all. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever i can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no 'brief candle' to me. it is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. Your did that Officer Cook. The flame within your pure soul will always shine bright and can never be extinguished. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. You'll always be in the hearts of Dade County and its citizens forever, Officer Cook.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

The purpose of life is a life of purpose. How very true Officer Cook. Your twenty-five years were all filled with this basic instinct and it never lead you down the wrong path. You performed every act of your life as if it were your last. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Our True Blue Hero and the very best of God's solemn angels.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

Agape is understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill toward all men. Agape is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. Theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in the human heart. When you rise to love on this level, you love all men not because you like them, not because their ways appeal to you, but you love them because God loves them. And this was instilled in both you and Karen and your sister, Nancy, growing up, Officer Cook. It made you wiser and more informed than the average person. It redefined you as an officer who worked humbly with others to get the job done right and with meaning. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

The quality of mercy is not strained; it drops as the gentle rain from heaven; upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed; it blesses He that gives and He that takes. When the rain falls we can look to the heavens above and know that Officer Cook and his fellow blue angelic comrades are at work providing much needed assistance to their fellow officers here. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

Fear grows out of things we think; it lives in our minds. Compassion grows out of things we are and lives in our hearts. It's only natural to have a certain amount of apprehension. This is logical even for a highly skilled police officer the caliber of yourself, Officer Cook. Judging by your smile as I look at your picture on The Officer Down Memorial page, I can tell you were not a pessimist, but rather someone who relished tackling problems head on. For your efforts, we will remember your shining legacy as something we can look at in the mirror daily to energize our motivations, if our inspirations start to wane a bit. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Every creature seeks its perfection in another. We are attempt to replicate what you so faithfully accomplished, Officer Cook. But how can we sustain this by doing so in honesty and in truth while maintaining dignity? The answer is to begin in trusting in God to guide your every direction. You can be sure He has your back. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. the Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made....You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. Officer Cook, you and Karen experienced all the happiness that one could have in a beautiful marriage and it is a shame you can't still be with us today. You loved every living being with respect and honor, so it is fitting that we honor your contribution to Dade County, its citizens and to modern day society. You'll be loved and adored by your loved ones forever and treasured by your law enforcement peers as your legacy grows. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

March 17, 2013