Harriet Blanchard Cook

Harriet Cook passed away Wednesday, November 17, 2021. Services will be 11:00 am, Tuesday, November 23, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Garden Room with Rayalan Cook officiating. Burial will follow at Waco Memorial Park. Harriet was born in the small town of Hudson, South Dakota, on April 3, 1923. She was the youngest of five children, two boys and three girls, born to Albert and Emilie Schaber. All are now deceased. After graduating from high school, Harriet followed her older brother and sisters to California in 1941. During World War II, she worked for the U.S. government as a communications operator. During this time, she met her future husband Edmond D. Cook and three months later, they were married. Edmond was in the Merchant Marines at that time. After the war, they moved to his home in Waco, Texas, where he worked for General Tire. Shortly thereafter, together, they opened a health studio named Mr. and Mrs. Health, which they ran for many years while Edmond continued to work at General Tire. Mr. and Mrs. Health was one of the first to provide body building plus physical fitness training for college athletes, the Baylor University football team in particular. Edmond passed away on October 23, 2008. In 2015 Harriet moved from her home in China Spring, Texas, then to the senior retirement home in Providence Village in Waco.