Try anything and enjoy what you do is Cooks’ motto.
Cooks was born on the 12 th of November in Vryburg to a mixture of Scottish and French parentage. She matriculated from Vryburg High and went on to study at the Cape Town College to become a teacher in commercial subjects. After completing her teacher’s diploma, Cooks continued her studies at the University of Cape Town where she completed a BCom degree.
After college she tried her hand at teaching, however, hated it too much … she says she was too young.
Upon joining the Department of Foreign Affairs she was posted to Berne. She met her husband, Dick, on a train while traveling to Cape Town. They were engaged for 5 days before they got married. They were married for nearly twenty five years and when he died, says Cooks, he did her out of a silver wedding anniversary.
She worked for a legal firm and resigned after 19 years to travel Europe for six months (without Dick). Cooks never quit training and obtained an Ikebana Teachers Certificate from Sogetsu Kaikan in Tokyo, did PanAm Training in New York, obtained RSCDS Teachers certificate from St Andrews Scotland, studied Calligraphy in Pretoria and much more.
After completing her studies in Japan, a travel agency recruited her to guide tours. As a seasoned tour guide Cooks traveled the world i.e she toured with groups from Cape to Cairo, criss-crossed Europe – summer and winter, the Far East, South America, the United States, the British Isles, Scandinavian countries, Australia, New Zealand, Seychelles and India to mention a few.
Cooks says traveled with all the airlines, from A-Z (Aeroflot to Zimbabwean Air). After twenty years of living from her suitcase she decided to go back to teaching … this time not commercial subjects but rather travel and tourism at Pretoria Technicon, Damelin and the University of Pretoria.
For fun she loves to hike and did the Elephant and Lions Trails, loves bird watching – especially when her dog does not chase them away. She further loves gardening; nothing formal, just containers, hanging baskets and mild and free flowering gardens.
As she grew up at the coast – Cape Town and St Andrews – deep sea fishing and the sea are part of her. Meditation is fulfilling to the soul – especially before the sun rises. She loves to do stained glass work, but sadly only have two pieces as the rest were done to order.
Scottish dancing is another favourite. She started to dance when she was about 4 years old. With the support of two friends started Scottish Country Dancing in Pretoria 33 years ago when she was the first St Andrews’s qualified teacher in Pretoria. The club is still going strong. Cooks also does Pergamano which is working with parchment.
Cooks says she also did modelling and loved Spanish Ballroom Dancing; however an accident and a knee replacement put paid to the lovely dance form as well as ice skating and horse riding.
She still reads at least 3 books a month if time permits and at the moment does not get enough time for tapestry or embroidery and says she got out of playing bridge when Toastmasters took over.
Cooks enjoys the Youth Leadership courses and says she learns something new at every session. She is a past president of Vital Communicators and also a past Area Governor for Area A1. She has missed very few conferences.
She loves socializing and every so often visits a casino. Her great love is opera and ballet. She says she is not a great sportswomen, however got colours in hockey. She says her niece annexed her Raleigh sports bicycle and this is the only reason she is no longer cycling.
Cooks is moving back to her beloved ocean, with a cottage near the sea, a beautiful view of Pumula and a fair-sized garden for her pots and dog. Her niece is about 5km from the cottage and the twin boys of eight offered to help her count the dolphins’ eye lashes.
Do dolphins have eye lashes?
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