Frances Elizabeth Cook

Frances Elizabeth Bewley Cook passed away peacefully November 25, 2011 in Sacramento, California at the age of 106. She was born January 5, 1905 on a farm near Fall River, Kansas. She attended country schools, and then graduated from Heald Business College in Wichita, Kansas. She got her first job as a secretary for Phillips Petroleum Co., in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. She soon transferred to Kansas City, Missouri, where she met and married George C. Smith in 1926. Frances and George had two children, a son, Jimmy, and daughter, Eleanor (Ellie). George died in 1936 of appendicitis. Following the death of her husband, Frances and her children moved to Fredonia, Kansas, to be near her parents. Frances worked as a secretary at the Kansas Bank Note Company until she married Don Cook in 1948. Frances and Don went to New Orleans on their honeymoon. It was the beginning of 30 wonderful years together. They traveled by car to all 49 states and had a great social life with their many friends. In their retirement years, they owned and operated the Gold Dust Hotel in Fredonia. Today the hotel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Don Cook died in 1987. After his death, Frances went on a Caribbean cruise with her daughter and son-in-law, and to Hawaii with her daughter. Her favorite trips were to the Matranga"s beach home in Carmel, California. Frances was a past president of BPW, member of the First United Methodist Church, Fredonia Regional Hospital Auxiliary, Book of the Month Club, and Sewing Club. Quilting was her specialty. Frances moved to Sacramento in 2001 to be near her family. She lived at Gramercy Court for eight years, and then moved to the new Sunrise of Carmichael, where she lived until she passed. Frances was cremated and will be buried in the Bewley family plot in Weakley Cemetery near New Albany, Kansas, next to her husband, Don Cook. She is survived by her daughter, Ellie Matranga; granddaughter, Jill Matranga; step-daughter, Lois Anapolsky, all of Sacramento, CA; great grandson, Jim Taugher of Culver City, CA; daughter-in-law, Nadine Smith; grandson, Doug Smith of Prairie Village, KS; granddaughter, Ellen Ruthart; grandson-in-law, Greg Ruthart; great granddaughters, Emerson Ruthart and Hannah Ruthart, all of Ft. Worth, TX; step-son, Max Cook of Fredonia, KS; step-sisters Donna Jo Cuddy of Olathe, KS and Peggy Rosen of Rocklin, CA. She was preceded in death by son, James R. Smith of Prairie Village, KS; granddaughter, Jan Matranga of San Jose, CA; husband, George Smith of Kansas City, MO; husband, Don Cook of Fredonia, KS; sister, Alice Breiweiser of Wichita, KS; brother, Maurice Bewley of Fall River, KS; and son-in-law, Jack Matranga of Sacramento, CA. Memorial graveside service will be held at 11:30 A.M. on Sunday, May 27, 2012 at Weakley Cemetery, followed by a family luncheon. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Vitas Hospice Care, 3841 N. Freeway Blvd., Suite 210, Sacramento, CA, 95834, "in memory of Frances Cook." Words of condolence for the family may be left on this website. Timmons Funeral Home, PO Box 168, Fredonia, KS 66736 is in charge of the arrangements.