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Ada Faye Butcher Cook was born on February 17, 1923, to Walter Virgil Butcher, Sr., and Augusta Caroline (Callie) Smith Butcher in rural Muldrow. She Graduated from Gans, Oklahoma, High School, as Salutatorian of her graduating class. After high school she worked in the shipyards during World War II in San Francisco while living with friends of her parents. She moved back to the area, and while working at a soda fountain in Camp Chaffee met James Medric (Jim) Cook, and they married on November 2, 1945 at City Hall in Fort Smith, Arkansas. They were always just Jim and Faye to their friends and family. Faye traveled with Jim while he was in the service and they had a daughter, Frances Carol Cook, while living in San Antonio. After his time in the service they moved to Muldrow, Oklahoma. Their daughter Medessa Ann Cook was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas. They built a wonderful life in Muldrow for their children, Carol and Medessa, and they owned and operated a grocery store and later a restaurant in Muldrow. Jim was also Mayor of Muldrow in the sixties. Jim passed away suddenly on October 21, 1980, when he was only 66 years old. Faye had never learned to drive, and passed her written test and got a learner’s permit shortly after Jim’s death. She always renewed her learners permit, as recently as two weeks ago, even though she never drove, and said then she would have to remember to come back to renew it in four years when she was 98. Faye loved working with preschoolers at Muldrow Elementary, and did so until she was almost 90. Both Faye and Jim were members of the Methodist Church, and Faye was a Methodist for her entire life. Faye and Jim built a home in the early 1960’s and Faye was blessed to be able to reside in that home until her death, and lived independently with a little assistance from her family, Sequoyah Memorial home health workers and her friend housekeeper, Sandy Smith.
Faye loved her family with a passion, and she knew where all her family was at all times. She also loved playing dominoes (she was very competitive, especially with her grandson William, who played dominoes with her in the hospital just days prior to her death), the St. Louis Cardinals, and her favorite “can’t miss” TV shows, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Jim and her parents, Walter and Callie, three brothers, Walter Virgil (Junior) Butcher and his wife Audrey, Calvin Coolidge (Mose) Butcher, and his wife Martha, and a brother Alvin Darver (Cassie) Butcher, who passed away as a child.
Even though she had no idea just how sick she was, she told family members the week before she died that she was ready for the Lord to take her home. She went to be with Jesus on February 21, 2017, at Sallisaw, Oklahoma, mourned by a host of family and friends who loved her deeply. She leaves behind to anxiously await seeing her again her daughter, Carol Allsup, and her husband Lynn Allsup, daughter Medessa Cook Montgomery, and her husband John Robert Montgomery; her grandchildren Cynthia Lynne Allsup Spicer, and her husband Jason Spicer, Medessa Kathleen (Kat) Allsup Merry, and her husband Bryan Merry, James Allsup, William Montgomery and James Montgomery; great-grandchildren Kathleen Spicer, Jack Spicer, and Samuel Pritchard, and a host of other friends and relatives who loved her.
If you prefer to make charitable donations in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Sequoyah Memorial Hospital in memory of Faye Cook.
Funeral service will be Friday, February 24, 2017 at 1 pm at First United Methodist Church in Sallisaw. Burial will be at Blackjack Cemetery in Muldrow, Oklahoma under the direction of Agent Mallory Martin Funeral Home in Sallisaw.
Viewing will be Thursday from noon - 8 pm at Agent Mallory Martin Funeral Home in Sallisaw. The family will greet from 6 - 8 pm.
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