John G. Cooklin

COOKLIN, WATTS, SEAL, MANN, STRATTON, DAWSON

Posted By: Skipton
Date: 12/31/2010 at 01:15:26

Source: The Columbus Gazette

John G. Cooklin, 78, of Rock Island, IL died Monday, August 16, 2010 at Trinity Rock Island.

Mr. Cooklin was born on August 17, 1931 in Wisconsin. He was raised and educated in Columbus City, Iowa. In 1951 he married Mildred Watts in blue Grass, Iowa. She died in 1988. In 1994 he married Marlyce J. Forsyth Seal in Boulder, Colorado.

Mr. Cooklin retired from John Deere Plow/Planter Works in Moline in 1985 where he was an illustrator and technical writer. He also worked for D.R. Light, Moline and for the Rock Island Lines where he was a wire chief.

He was a member of good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, Rock Island and formerly Memorial Heights United Methodist Church, rock Island, where he sang in the choir and was a member of the Men’s Club. He was a member of the Golden K Kiwanis Club, Rock Island, and was a past president and former club secretary.

He enjoyed singing and was a member of the Bend of the River chorus of the Quad Cities and the Heartland Harmony Chorus of Muscatine. He sang in several barbershop quartets, was a former Rock Island Elks Club member and had coached Rock Island girls’ softball and Rock Island Babe Ruth baseball. He enjoyed reading and storytelling.
Survivors include his wife, Marlyce; sons and daughters-in-law, Rick and Connie Cooklin, Hollister California, and David and Martha Cooklin, Franklin Park, Illinois; a daughter and son-in-law, Kathleen and Mark Mann, Frederick, Colorado; stepchildren, Terry Stratton, Rancho Mirage, California, Christa Stratton and husband, John, bloomfield, Colorado, and LeAnn Dawson and husband, Ed, Longmont, Colorado; twelve grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.

He was preceded in death by his parents and first wife, Mildred.

Services were held on Thursday, August 19, 2010 at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Rock Island, Illinois. Memorials may be made to the American Diabetes Association or to the American Heart Association.