Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

I received a nice letter back from your neighbor, Mr. Scott Olifant, who works as an attorney in Las Vegas. He sends his best wishes to your family. It was very humbling to receive a letter back from him. I guess being a police officer's son, Officer Cook, my neighbor, friend and hero can humble you quite a bit. I had looked him up and found where he is still practicing as a lawyer. Not so much of thee is left among us, as the hum outliving the hushed bell. The bells of St. Mary's Cathedral sounding that sad day of May 19, 1979, as your flag draped casket was being borne into the cathedral for your Inspector's Funeral where your family, friends and comrades gathered to pay their respects and to offer you one truly final salute for your humbling, graceful and honorable police service and protection to the citizens of Dade County. Bells ringing, helicopters flying overhead and bagpipes playing Amazing Grace, along with singing Our National Anthem can instill quietness amongst all the tears of sorrow and respect, love, affection and grateful appreciation for all your hard work and loyal effort. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Whenever I drive on I-95 past North Shore Hospital and the cathedral, I always think of you and your comrades who were given their Inspector's Funerals at that humble House of Worship.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 1, 2013

I received a nice letter back from your neighbor, Mr. Scott Olifant, who works as an attorney in Las Vegas. He sends his best wishes to your family. It was very humbling to receive a letter back from him. I guess being a police officer's son, Officer Cook, my neighbor, friend and hero can humble you quite a bit. I had looked him up and found where he is still practicing as a lawyer. Not so much of thee is left among us, as the hum outliving the hushed bell. The bells of St. Mary's Cathedral sounding that sad day of May 19, 1979, as your flag draped casket was being borne into the cathedral for your Inspector's Funeral where your family, friends and comrades gathered to pay their respects and to offer you one truly final salute for your humbling, graceful and honorable police service and protection to the citizens of Dade County. Bells ringing, helicopters flying overhead and bagpipes playing Amazing Grace, along with singing Our National Anthem can instill quietness amongst all the tears of sorrow and respect, love, affection and grateful appreciation for all your hard work and loyal effort. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Whenever I drive on I-95 past North Shore Hospital and the cathedral, I always think of you and your comrades who were given their Inspector's Funerals at that humble House of Worship.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 1, 2013

There is something better, if possible, that a man can give his life. That is his living spirit to a service that is not easy, to resist counsels that are hard to resist, to stand against purposes that are difficult to stand against. Forty-two Metro-Dade police officers, including yourself, Officer Cook, gave your lives and values on behalf of your community. There are no nobler individuals than those who dare to explore, dare to risk their beings in the holy name of Our Creator and in the name of peace, security and the decency with which we live, breathe and enjoy the fruits of our labor, because of the sacrifices made to further humanity as each of us us views it. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 30, 2013

It is my living sentiment as it is from all those who live and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment,-Independence now and Independence forever! Because of all police officers we can choose to live in a free modern day society and continue living our very lives as we see fit. Officer Cook, you placed a great deal on the line for the welfare of Dade County and its residents and will never be forgotten for your professionalism. We long lived until we had to cry, we loved until our last goodbye. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. For some your Inspector's Funeral on May 19, 1979, was the last time those colleagues, friends and family members were able to gather and pay their respects and offer condolences to your family. You were a truly humble and a most profoundly compassionate gentleman.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 29, 2013

His brow is wet with honest sweat, He earns whatever he can and looks the whole world in his face, for he owes not any man. You sweated for us, Officer Cook, so we could cool down and then when you were suddenly taken from our midst, we cried and cried, from what I read, there was not a dry eye that day as many came from all over the country and Canada to offer a fitting and final salute to you for you personal and proud life highlighted by your brilliant and outstanding career with the Metro-Dade Police Department. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 29, 2013

My apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors." As we say God's most beautiful fields are the ones that are most blessed. We take a fruit and offer a pray over it, thanking God for all he has done and continues to do for us. We always need to take a moment out of our day, step back and thank Our Creator for inspiring women and men of boldness and bravery for capturing our imaginations. You captured our very souls, Officer Cook, with your dogged determination and persistence. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 29, 2013

Studies of ease and fond of humble things, below the smiles, below the frowns of kings: Thanks to my stars, I prize the sweets of life, no sleepless nights I count, no days of strife. I rest, I wake, I drink, I sometimes love, I read, I write, I settle, or I rove; content to live, content to die unknown, Lord of myself, accountable to none. Your humbleness, Officer Cook, helped accentuate your very life and career. Your bright smile lit up any room you were present in. Being a police officer, I'm sure there were many a sleepless night for your family and your beloved wife, Karen. We learn in a free world and society because of individuals as daring as you were dedicated to the service and the protection of its citizens. As a devoted officer, you were accountable to not only your superiors, but to we the people who count on your honesty and integrity on a daily basis. Now as you rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero, help our Chief Accountant as He watches over those chosen who have offered their service by hard and arduous work to maintain dignity, peace and unity that is needed most for all of us to prosper in the same manner that you served so diligently for six years with your department.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 29, 2013

I affirm that I think now that every thing without exception has an eternal soul! The trees have, rooted in the ground! The weeds of the sea have! So too the animals! Every living being has a soul and the vitality to properly maintain that through proper nourishment, food or water. Your soul, Officer Cook, is now being properly maintained by Our Creator, who makes sure it can go wherever and whenever it decides to float above as do the souls of your other comrades who bravely stood face to face with evil battling it everyday during their watches. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 28, 2013

Immortality is not a gift, immortality is an achievement; and those who strive mightily shall possess it. Your actions and deeds of righteousness, Officer Cook, were what we expected from heroic police officers who take an affirmation to serve and to protect. The unique gifts and quality of your refined character is not something all of us possess. It takes a long time to work on and to develop humbleness and other character traits that are so very essential to our successes in life. Life itself is not a game, like the X Box or some joke that can be made fun of. You can smile and maintain a vivid sense of humor. Life is what you can attempt to do and to become when you are passed that baton, that blueprint so vital to our existence. Nothing is ever given or conceded in life, we live life in each moment. The quiet times, the personal moments with our beloved spouses or whoever we occupy moments with. You were the quintessential person, the go to leader to follow for times of inspiration. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 28, 2013

Here is my creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable service we render Him is doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. This was certainly your motto, Officer Cook and it was imparted in you and Nancy at a very early age. You and Karen were faithful servants who impacted citizens and the patients you both served and maintained in grace and dignity. Your service was sincere, as it touched the very backbone of all of us. God is watching over you my neighbor, friend and hero as you observe Him treating others as you treated them. Rest in peace. I tell people as a Rabbi, that there is one one God, not as many as the croutons floating in your soup. They laugh and smile, but they comprehend the meaning of this statement.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 28, 2013

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, the tempest tossed to me, I lift up my lamp beside the golden door! Police officers not only defend, serve and protect, but they are our friends and advocates in times when the going gets a little tough. You were this, Officer Cook and so much more if Our Creator had given you more years. Of course, we can't take back what happened that day. If we could a miraculous thing would occur. Twenty-one thousand other brave souls would be here reunited with their families, at least the majority of them. Your cunning, your swiftness to act, allowed us to breathe freely the clean air in our lungs that God supplies us with. We can safely keep our lamps lit because of your personal sacrifice and now your eternal lamp from your cherished soul can guide us in all our actions with the proper honor and respect that so faithfully chartered and epitomized your life and career. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 28, 2013

You can witness a person with thick calluses on both hands and feet working fifteen and sixteen hour days. You can view them literally bleeding from the bottom of their feet, a person coming to this great land of America where they can find if they seek opportunity to better themselves and their family. people come to the United States of America who can't speak the language, who taught themselves about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of their example. You learned from your father and mother, Officer Cook about the kind of democracy that is represented in our country. You learned from both your parents about the obligations you have and to cherish them in being a responsible citizen and a charismatic friend to all. They, meaning your mother and father taught you and your sister, Nancy, the values that traveled with you wherever you went. When you finally attained that pinnacle in your life and became their protector, their proud and humble son who wore the badge of honor that they pinned to your chest, that was the beginning of a special relationship that you solemnly and with a pronounced sense of honor, dignity and integrity maintained with Dade County citizens for six wonderfully productive and prosperous years. You were and still are highly regarded as a Dade County police savior. Heroic and determined to the end, may you rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. For the blood, sweat, tears and calluses for your hard work, devoted to a cause that goes beyond justice, Officer Cook, you and your comrades before and after you, who gave up their lives were not just ordinary people, you were "Our Heroes and Heroines" of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 28, 2013

He is an American who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys and the new rank he holds. You were a true American, Officer Cook, patriotic in all your endeavors and personable beyond our scopes of vision and true understanding. For how you reacted that fateful day, you have earned an elevation into God's solemn ranks in the heavens above. Make no mistake, you are truly missed and beloved in spirit by all who came in contact with you either personally or professionally. It's brave women and men like yourself who dare to risk their lives daily to secure our common freedoms and unity that lies in our communities. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Wonderfully beloved, caring and considerate without a doubt.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 28, 2013

Some actions can be classified as pathetic. The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven. We all can recite a big Amen to that. For all that you represented to Dade County and its citizens, Officer Cook, there will never be happiness over losing you in the manner that you sacrificed your young life. You were a happy person, a quality gentleman literally and figuratively. Your beloved wife knew you had a way to make others laugh and to smile. They smile, but I'm sure deep down that pain of losing you never does depart from one's inner self. You were a Godsend to your family, friends and your department and will never ever be forgotten for your heroic actions on May 16, 1979. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. I know if you keep smiling down on us, we'll know that one day we will see you and your father, Charles again may he too rest in peace.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 28, 2013

Laughter is man's most distinctive emotional expression. man shares the capacity for love, hate, anger, fear, loyalty and grief, with other living creatures. But humor, which has an intellectual as well as an emotional element, belongs to man. Officer Cook, since I've reflected a little bit regarding your sense of humor, all seriously aside you were one great and distinguished police officer, who let his actions and words of encouragement speak for himself. I'm sure in school you were not know as a class clown, but your classmates knew the real persona of William C. "Billy" Cook, who went on to become a hero of Dade County citizens and in the law enforcement community as Metro-Dade Police Officer William C. Cook, Badge#1664. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 25, 2013

The essence of all jokes, of all comedy, seems to be an honest or well-intended half; a non-performance of that which is pretended to be performed, at the same time that one is giving loud pledges of performance. The balking of the intellect, the frustrated expectation, the break of continuity in the intellect, is comedy and it announces itself in the pleasant spasms we call laughter. I heard from people who knew you, Officer Cook, that you had a wonderfully maddening sense of humor and that you could utter something and begin laughing at that. You did take your life seriously, otherwise how could you have been so daring and fearless to risk your being in order to serve and protect us. One does not need to be Groucho Marx, George Burns or Jack Benny to make us laugh and forget about our worries or concerns that presently afflict us. Keep making us upbeat my neighbor, friend and hero with your million dollar smile as you patrol God's golden streets. Rest in peace.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 24, 2013

Man is a spiritual being in that-unless he is badly corrupted-he responds powerfully to non-material stimuli: the beauty in nature or in art, the trust of children, the needs of helpless people, the death of a friend even though long absent. You were a very devout person, Officer Cook, you and your beloved wife, Karen were loyal worshipers at Visitation Catholic Church near where you lived. A beautiful humble edifice where you and Karen gathered with the other members to communicate with Our Creator. But more importantly you spoke the truth, you voiced your opinions in a calming and logical way. This was how you conducted your professional life and how you treated others and they in turn gave this respect back to you and your loving family when they needed it the most. You harbored no prejudices, creed or color, all your peers and friends knew it, your family knew it. All I know or can assume is that from how lovingly your niece, Gina Wilkerson, spoke about you to me in your parents home, is that you were a very astute, loving and a compassionate human being-that is enough for me, it can't be any worse, other than the fact that you should by all rights be here with your family, colleagues and friends to celebrate their happy occasions.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 24, 2013

Man's unique reward, however, is that while animals survive by adjusting themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to himself. You adopted your ways of policing Dade County streets, Officer Cook, according to your training in the police academy and the laws and rules which governed your department. You were humble, beloved by all, fearless in all your pursuits, dedicated to every citizen you came across personally and or professionally. You'll always be remembered for your passion, professionalism, commitment and attitude. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 24, 2013

The history of the world shows that when a mean thing was done, man did it; when a good thing was done; man did it. It really was a tragedy that on that fateful day of May 16, 1979, one young man who had been plotting to carry out a most vicious and vile action against the Metro-Dade Police Department and its officers, cost this thriving community the beloved life of one of its own, Officer William C. Cook,Badge#1664 and nearly took the lives of your two comrades, Officers DiGenova and Edgerton who were clinging to life by a thread and could have also taken the lives of your partner that day, Reserve Officer Scott Lincoln and Detective Don Blocker. Beloved and cherished by all. Your loving and devoted family members, friends in both your department and in the community at large who have had come to grips and continue carrying on with your legacy since your untimely loss. A huge loss to all mankind as you had so much more to offer and to give back to a community you knew and cared compassionately for at the tender young age of twenty-five. You deserved so much more my neighbor, friend and hero. How could we the people ever properly repay you for your prompt and courteous service? Rest in peace.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 23, 2013

One great error is that we suppose mankind is more honest than they are. There is no error what so ever in saying quite clearly and literally that you were a true Godsend, Officer Cook. Many of us just dream and waste our time with trivial pursuits. You spent every waking moment of your life as a young boy and until you became a man thinking and inventing new ways for success in making God's world and His green pastures a little more pristine. A little Yankee ingenuity can travel a long way toward making a person's goals, inspirations and aspirations reach stardom. You were without any doubt one the most honorable officers who patrolled the streets of Dade County and your sincere fashion of openness and calm reasoning lead to your achievements during your time with your department. We all should speak softly and carry that proverbial big stick as you handled so well. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 23, 2013

There are only two kinds of people in the world that really count. One kinds wheat and the other kinds emeralds. Your food, clothing and shelter which you and Karen worked very hard to provide, Officer Cook, is just one way you'll be remembered. The other way and the most important thing to keep and to bear in mind was that your humility, dignity and honesty in dealing with people is the material of which humble legends are made from. You surely will not be forgotten for having the fortitude to accept such an important role in our lives and for coming to assist and save your colleagues and the civilians that day from more danger than they were already facing. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 23, 2013

I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion, sacrifice and endurance. Well stated, Officer Cook, because you and your colleagues who laid down your lives for us, all had one thing, no you all had many things in your favor; a passion to succeed and a drive to work harder than anybody else to make your aspirations, dreams, goals and desires come to fruition. you gave back to the Dade County community more than we as the citizens could give back to you. Your life had purpose, meaning it was bedecked with ingenuity and the intellect to survive all the rigors of police work that you can be exposed to on a daily basis. We shall carry on your good name and be as one community keeping and spreading the values and ideals you imbued. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 23, 2013

An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man...and all history resolves itself very easily into the biography of a few stout and earnest persons. You were a fearless leader among your peers, Officer Cook and it was those brave men and women colleagues of yours who looked up to you for determination and the inspiration when times got difficult. Your shadow can still be observed within your department and in your division as is your wonderful soul as it continues to illuminate this world from above in God's golden kingdom. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. When we look back in the history books of the Metro-Dade Police Department, May 16, 1979 and your humble name will forever be emblazoned within the recesses of our minds and hearts. The thirteenth Metro-Dade Police Officer to sacrifice their life for the good of our community, it is said that God possesses these same number of attributes which you, Officer Cook, also had and maintained them throughout your life and career.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 23, 2013

Honor, opportunity, perseverance and effort. If you put these four behavioral traits together, you have hope and that is what you personified, Officer Cook. you put your life and career in the Almighty's hands and you never were steered wrong. Because of your humility you were given not handed a golden opportunity to serve and protect Dade County citizens. The endeavor was only and always one-hundred percent solid in all your dealings with the public and for your humble achievements my neighbor, friend and hero. You'll forever be and continue to be honored with all the homage due to heroes and heroines so bold and swift in reacting to dilemmas that needed solving and resolving. Rest in peace.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 22, 2013

A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there, which, seek through the world, is never met with elsewhere. Home, home, sweet, sweet home! There's no place like home! There is no place like home! Every home where love abides and friendship is a guest, is surely home and home sweet home: For there the heart can rest. As I've reflected it all started in your home, Officer Cook, where you grew up in North Miami Beach, Florida with your parents who were so loving, so caring, so humble in how you and your loving sister, Nancy, were raised and provided all that you both needed to succeed in life, faith and the character that is necessary for one to make and take great strides in what we call life's pursuits. A charming man of devoutness, a man with a sense of humor, yet composed with a calming and soothing voice of reason to make your talent and dignity become more accentuated with your community, division and within your department. This is what endeared you my neighbor, friend and hero to others and why they have come to know and love you and to keep your legacy alive in their efforts. Rest in peace. Keep up with your charm and wonderfully bright and engaging smile while guarding God's golden streets.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

September 22, 2013