After a lengthy illness, Louise Ida Cook “Cookie” Towery died peacefully in Austin on Dec. 1, 2016, surrounded by family. She was 88 years old. She was preceded in death by her husband of 69 years, Roland Kenneth (Ken) Towery. Louise Ida Cook was born on Sept. 13, 1928, at her home in Knippa to Henry A. Cook and Anna Belle Wollschlaeger Cook. She was the second youngest girl in a family of four other sisters: Clara Cook Brucks, Helen Cook McFadin, of Uvalde, Anna Lee Cook, and the youngest, Mabel Cook Paradeaux, of Luling. All the girls helped their mother and father work the family’s drylands farm. A 1946 graduate of Knippa High School, Louise went to work immediately at the county agricultural office in Uvalde. She soon met and fell in love with Roland Kenneth Towery and they were married in Houston on May 4, 1947. Louise laughingly recalled that the courtship was a whirlwind because, “Ken was in a hurry.” Louise’s life then turned to caring for her husband, the two children to follow, Roland Kenneth Towery Jr., and Alice Towery Gilroy, and then the grandchildren. Her purpose was to serve in whatever capacity was needed to assist her husband in regaining his health after 3 1/2 years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, in his career, and in always lovingly keeping the home fires burning for her family. She never seemed to tire and had a reputation of being able to “out work” anyone in the family. Even her neighbors were prone to call her in times of crisis – including a call for her to come get a water moccasin out from under a cabinet. She was 80 years old at the time of that encounter and won the battle. She was by her husband’s side when they moved to Cuero and he eventually went to work at the newspaper as an editor/reporter. But first, she had to teach Ken how to type. The typing paid off through a series of stories Ken wrote, while at “The Cuero Record,” that eventually earned him the Pulitzer Prize. She was by his side in his newspaper career covering state and national politics in Austin. Then the two moved their family to McLean, Virginia, where she worked side by side with him in the world of politics and presidential campaigns. When her husband retired, the two moved back to Austin and took on the quieter life of political consulting management and owning several weekly newspapers: The Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon, The Belton Journal, and The Crosby County News and Chronicle. She was also her husband’s biggest support, research assistant, and editor for his book, “The Chow Dipper.” She was preceded in death by her husband, and two sisters, Clara Brucks and Anna Lee Cook. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Alice and Leonard Gilroy, of Austin; a son, Roland Kenneth Towery Jr., of Austin; four grandchildren: Roland Kenneth Towery III and his wife, Jamie, of Savannah, Georgia; Rachel Sines and her husband, David, of Winter Garden, Florida; Athena Towery, of Baltimore, Maryland; and Brandon Gilroy, of Austin; and three great-grandchildren: Watson Sterner, of Baltimore; and Archer Towery and Ezra Towery, of Savannah. Visitation was held on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, from 6-8 p.m. at Weed-Corley-Fish North Funeral Home, located at 3125 N. Lamar in Austin. Funeral Services were held at 10 a.m., Monday, Dec. 5, 2016, in the chapel of Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home. Interment followed at the Texas State Cemetery. Obituary and memorial guestbook available online at www.wcfish.com Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home in Austin. (512) 452-8811.
THE PRECEDING IS A PAID OBITUARY.