Rosemary Cook, 98, Avon

August 17, 1926 - September 5, 2024

Rosemary (Legatt) Cook began a new journey on September 5, 2024.

She was born in St. Cloud in 1926 to Barthol and Helen (Justin) Legatt. She was an athletic child who loved gymnastics and hoped to join the circus. While the circus didn’t work out, she remained athletic all her life, enjoying swimming, waterskiing, and walking. She challenged herself to swim across Lake Alexander each summer, encouraging her children to join her. She was also a voracious reader, crossword puzzle solver, competitive card and scrabble player, creative seamstress, knitter, and embroiderer. She especially enjoyed time at her Lake Alexander cabin and, in her last years, time at a family cabin in Grand Marias. She resided in St. Cloud for many years, retiring to Sartell and then later to Collegeville Township.

Rosemary married Robert L. Cook in 1950, followed by a honeymoon road trip to Yellowstone National Park. On their return trip through the Black Hills the newlyweds enjoyed coffee and conversation with Korczak Ziolkowski and Ruth Ross Ziolkowski, the designer and original sculptor of the Crazy Horse Memorial and his wife. This was a special memory for Rosemary.

Rosemary graduated from the St. Cloud School of Nursing in 1947 and worked as a registered nurse at hospitals in Monticello, Winona, and St. Cloud. She worked for many years on the labor and delivery floor of the St. Cloud Hospital, taught maternity nursing for four years at the School of Nursing, and spent the last ten years of her career at St. Benedict’s Center.

Survivors include her children Doug Cook (Mary Kay), Bob Cook (Karen), Judy Cook, Jeanne Cook (Richard Ice), and Dan Cook (Alysia), eleven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and siblings Teresa Teal, Jim Legatt, and Cathy LePage. She was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years, Bob, and siblings Bede and Barbara. There will be a private burial in Scandia Valley Township Cemetery.

Rosemary’s family wish to thank the staff of CentraCare Hospice and Quiet Oaks Hospice House for their excellent and loving care both of Rosemary and of her family. Donations preferred to Quiet Oaks Hospice House.