Edwin N. Cooke, 91, of Cave Junction, died Thursday, Jan. 1, 1998, at the home of his daughter in Cave Junction.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Illinois Valley Funeral Home with the Belt Masonic Lodge No. 18 of Kerby and Chip Combs conducting. Burial will follow at Laurel Cemetery.
Contributions may be made in memory of Edwin N. Cooke III and Edwin N. Cooke IV to the historical restoration of the Cooke Mine, P.O. Box 332, Cave Junction, OR 97523.
He was born Nov. 27, 1906, at home on Clockum Creek, in Chelan County, Wash. He lived in Washington as a young man and was a working cowboy. He rode in many rodeos but preferred to be a rodeo clown. He devised some of the paraphernalia, such as the barrel and chariot, that clowns still use today. He moved to Butte, Mont., where he worked in copper mines.
In 1944 he moved to O'Brien. His family owned and was raised in the house that is presently the Kerbyville Museum. He was also involved with the purchase of the old Kerby school and its renovation to the Kerby Belt Building. He was a timber faller and worked in several mills in the valley. At the age of 67 he retired from Cabax.
Cooke was president of the local sawmill union and also the president of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He was instrumental in the creation of Cave Junction Fire Department and helped keep the Jubilee (current Labor Day Festival) going, especially the logging show.
He enjoyed fly fishing and hunting. He also had several mining claims. He was active in the Masonic Lodge, Reames, Melita, White Shrine and the Blue Lodge.
Survivors include two sons, Jack Cooke of Mt. Aukum, Calif., and Frank Cooke of Brookings; four daughters, Mary Cecchini and Lela Lohr, both of Vallejo, Calif., Dorothy Crabtree of Valley Springs, Calif., and Kathy Kennedy of Cave Junction; two brothers, E.V. Cooke and Jim Cooke, both of Grants Pass; a sister, Gladys Fattig of Willow Creek, Calif.; 35 grandchildren; and 53 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his first son, James Cooke, who died at age 11 months.
