Published: March 28, 2009 11:33 pm      

Services slated today for education, religious leader

Services will be held today for a noted education and religious leader who served Raleigh County, West Virginia and his country in many capacities.

The Rev. Virgil C. Cook of Daniels died Thursday in Beckley following a short illness. He was 90.

Cook served 12 years as a member of the Raleigh County Board of Education and was a past president of the state School Board Association.

He was a voting delegate to the National School Board Convention, representing West Virginia, for three straight years, and chaired a clinic of the National School Board Clinic in 1978 in Anaheim, Calif.

In 1986, Cook was appointed to the state Board of Education by Gov. Arch Moore and served 11 years, including terms as board president and secretary.

He served four years as a member of the state School Building Authority on the finance and construction committees.

In 1994, Gov. Gaston Caperton appointed Cook president of the West Virginia Joint Commission for Vocational-Technical Occupational Education. He was reappointed to the position in 1997 by Caperton and served until his term ended in 2002.

He received the Distinguished West Virginian Award from Caperton in 1994.

Cook was born at Peach Tree, attended Trap Hill High School and earned two associate’s degrees from Beckley College. He had four years of theological training through the Board of Ministerial Training of the United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn.

He was a coal miner and a World War II veteran who was severely wounded in France. A U.S. Army staff sergeant, he was awarded the Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars and other commendations before being discharged in 1946.

Cook became a Methodist pastor in the 1950s, serving churches in Beaver and Blue Jay. He was chaplain at Pinecrest Hospital for four years, and was the founder and administrative superintendent of Beckley Child Care Center, now the Burlington Center, for more than 20 years.

Cook was a Mason and a past president of the Beaver Lions Club, Shady Spring Scholarship Foundation and the Raleigh County Sheltered Workshop Board of Directors. He also served two terms as president of the West Virginia Child Care Association and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Southern Region Child Care Association.

He also was past president of the Greater Beckley Ministerial Association, a member of the Board of Directors of the Raleigh County Armory Civic Center and former vice president of Rose and Quesenberry Funeral Home in Beckley.

He is survived by two daughters, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Service will be 2 p.m. today at Beaver United Methodist Church. Burial with military and Masonic rites will follow at Sunset Memorial Park in Beckley.