The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 689

LESTER VANDER COOKE.

Lester Vander Cooke, who follows ranching near Mabton, is numbered among the
native sons of Washington, his birth having occurred in Kittitas county, January
26, 1890, his parents being M. D. and Belle (Fulton) Cooke. Extended mention of
the family is made on another page of this work in connection with a sketch of
the father.

Lester Vander Cooke acquired a public school education and afterward entered the
Washington State College at Pullman, from which he was graduated with the class
of 1914. He then engaged in ranching with his father for two years and in 1916
he made his first purchase of land, becoming owner of thirty-five acres three
and a half miles south of Sunnyside. There he is raising hay and hogs and also
conducts a dairy business. The various branches of his business are proving
profitable, for he is energetic and persistent and carries forward to successful
completion whatever he undertakes.

On the 28th of April, 1917, Mr. Cooke was married to Miss Mary Bernice Edwards,
who was born in Junction City, Oregon, a daughter of William C. and Lucinda
(Akers) Edwards. Her father, a native of Ohio, was a son of James Edwards, who
brought the family over the plains in 1854 and located in Oregon. The mother was
a daughter of J. H. Akers, who came to the Pacific coast country about 1868,
proceeding to San Francisco and thence by boat to Portland, Oregon. The parents
of Mrs. Cooke were married in Oregon and are still identified with the ranching
interests of that state. To Mr. and Mrs. Cooke has been born a son, William
Rufus, whose birth occurred February 12, 1918. The parents attend the
Presbyterian church and Mr. Cooke gives his political allegiance to the
democratic party where national questions and issues art, involved but casts an
independent ballot at local elections. During his college days he took great
interest in athletic sports and was well known as a sprinter. He held the
championship high school record of a quarter-mile dash in fifty-one and
two-fifths seconds. He also holds the record of a two hundred and twenty-yard
dash in twenty-two seconds flat. He yet displays enthusiasm concerning athletic
ports, but his business demands his time and attention, preventing active
participation therein. He is a progressive young man, alert and energetic,
realizing the opportunities that are before him and utilizing them to accomplish
desired results.

********************************
Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.