Jeff Cook's Life

If one could most accurately describe the life of Jeff Cook to date, he or she could easily sum it up as knotty. But it didn't start out that way...he just grew into it, perhaps developed it that way.

He was born to James L. and Jean M. Cook at a Toledo hospital on November 12th, 1971. His parents were currently living on a farm in Pemberville, OH south of Toledo and already had a daughter (Deanna) born just a year and a month earlier.

J.L.Cook's known family history traces back to Germany in the early 1700's where a Cook married a Shumann, left Germany to France and then sailed to the U.S. . J.M. Cook's known family history traces back to then Austria (now the Chech Republic). Her family remained in Europe until Adolph Resig (later changing his name to "Otto" due to name-shame associated with Hitler's rise) moved to the U.S. in the early 1900's. J.L. Cook's family was predominantly protestant and J.M. Cook's family predominantly Catholic. J.L. Cook was apparently not as adamant about his religion as his wife, as he agreed to raise the family Catholic.

Cook's father, grandfather and great grandfather were all electricians, a trade that Cook would later despise after just a few onsite construction jobs. Cook's mother was a housewife for his early years. His parents met while working at the Toledo Catholic Club as lifeguards.

Cook was born weeks late and needed some respiratory treatment at the hospital, but complications were rather minor.

A year and a half later, Cook's parents moved to Toledo and gave birth to another girl (Michelle). His father was improving his livelihood each year and moved the family to the Toledo suburb of Maumee, where the Cook's gave birth to another son (Brian). J.M. Cook originally hoped for six children, but because of health risks, Cook's younger brother was the last addition to the immediate family.

Cook's fondest, earliest memories of these years were vacation trips to Florida, fishing and sailing on the family's small sailboat. He became an enthusiastic fisherman, inspired likely by catching a small shark at age three in the Gulf of Mexico, though he doesn't recall the details of the event other than that the fish was no more than 18 inches long.