James Cook

Visitation will be held on Sunday, June 3, 2018 with the family receiving friends from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Miles City. Funeral services will be held on Monday, June 4, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. at the Miles Community College Ag Advancement Center in Miles City. Interment will be held the Sentinel Butte Cemetery on Saturday, August 3, 2019 at 9:00 a.m.


James C. “Jim” Cook, age 83 of Miles City, passed away on May 27, 2018 at St. Vincent Hospital in Billings, MT.


Jim was born May 6
th
, 1935 in Beach, ND to Edward and Bertha (Reed) Cook. He was the middle child of three brothers and two sisters. Jim grew up and spent most of his childhood north of Sentinel Butte, ND near the community of Westerhiem, living and helping on his grandparents Ted (Pa) and Julia (Lou) Cook’s, ranch. He graduated from Sentinel Butte High School in 1953, and then attended Dickinson State College for two years on an athletic scholarship. Jim started riding steers in the local rodeos at the age of 9, moving on to broncs and bulls in high school and college. He won the bull riding average in 1956 at the Wolf Point Stampede in Wolf Point, MT. He married Colleen Baker on August 4, 1956 at the United Community Church in Beach, ND. Together they had one child, Tyler Cook. Later on Jim and Colleen were divorced in 1981. After attending Reppert School of Auctioneering in Decatur, Indiana in 1958, he moved his family to Winchester, Virginia to manage a Livestock Auction Market. Jim was an avid livestock owner and promoter his entire life.  While in Virginia, he started announcing weekly rodeos for Howard Harris and Jim Shoulders. Jim moved back to Glendive, MT in 1965 to ranch with his brother Jerry. He was asked to announce the Culbertson, MT rodeo in 1967, the start of a 30 year rodeo announcing career in major rodeos across North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. Jim became a PRCA Gold Card Member in 1986. He also enjoyed announcing to help promote many Little Britches, 4-H, high school, college, amateur and ranch rodeos, along with community fund raisers for rural fire departments, school activities, benefits for medical causes and many other charitable events. Jim met his special friend and partner Sandy Pearcy in 2004. In his later years, he loved to help out at the family ranch especially for Cole, with chores and feeding. Jim loved to play cards and was a very avid poker player. He also loved to watch his grandchildren in the various sporting events over the years.


Jim is survived by his son Tyler (Julie) of Miles City; his grandchildren Cole (Lindsey) Cook of Miles City and their children Caitlyn and Carly; Casey (Amanda) Cook of Dickinson, ND; Special friend Sandy Pearcy of Miles City and her family Paula (Tom), Merrill, Joetta & children; his brother Ward (Rita) Cook of Sun City, AZ; two sisters Gwen (Arlo) Huber of Veradale, WA and Patricia (Gary) Aubertin of Soap Lake, WA and a sister in law Grace Cook of Glendora, CA. He is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.


Jim was preceded in death by his parents, and two brothers Jerald Cook and Douglas Reed Cook.


Memorials in Jim’s honor may be made  to the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 137, Medora, ND 58645 or to the Home on The Range, 16351 I 94, Sentinel Butte, ND 58654. Condolences may be made to the family by visiting:
www.stevensonandsons.com
.


 


Burial Date: August 3, 2019