See the Andrew Jackson “AJ” Cook file for family background
George Oliver Cook (2/20/1889-8/24/1960) was born in El Toro, California. He married Florence Lottie Green (11/4/1888-11/6/1918) on 10/27/1909. There were both 20. They had three children. George was a tenant farmer on the Irvine Ranch and raised beans and grain his entire life.
Florence and their third child named Agnes died due to complications of the 1918 Flu Epidemic. Mother and baby are at rest in Fairhaven Cemetery.
George was a single father for 12 years until married Jeanette “Nettie” Milstead Spangler (3/3/1888-9/22/1952) in 1930. Nettie was the widow of his best friend Roy Franklin Spangler. He was 41 and she was 42.
Jeanette Milstead was born in Arkansas City, Arkansas. She married Roy Franklin Spangler (5/4/1887-9/16/1925) in 9/18/1911). He was 24 and she was 23. They had two boys (Harold Roy and Howard Clyde). Roy Spangler grew up in Santa Ana. His father was a blacksmith who died in 1906 when Roy was 19. Roy and Jeanette lived with her sister (Orvil and Ida Mae Milstead Daugherty) on Trabuco Road. Roy died in 1925, an Edison employee, died of electrocution at age 38.
In 1942, the Irvine Company moved the Cook house to the town of Irvine near the Irvine Service Station as the U S Government had acquired the prior location to build the El Toro Marine base.
George was a registered democrat and a member of the Santa Ana Elks Club. He was also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodman and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He had been a farmer for 55 years.
Jeanette preceded George in death at age 64. Her estate was valued at $3,000, which she left to George. George Oliver died in Irvine, California, at the age of 71. She was a member of the Rebakah Lodger. Both are buried in Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana, California.
The life story of their children follows:
Earl Jackson (Jack) Cook (3/11/1912-1/17/1984) was born in California. He married Evelyn E Stone (12/24/1913-5/29/2009) on January 12, 1934. They had three children during their marriage.
Evelyn’s father was a foreman for the Irvine Company. She grew up in a large family with seven siblings. Evelyn’s parents Ralph (6/12/1887-8/13/1956) and Jennie (3/25/1891-10/12/1993) were married 8/5/1908. He was 21 and she was 17. According to Jennie’s obituary she came to California with her family in a livestock box car from McCook, Nebraska and she made her living selling tamales to farm hands on the Irvine ranch. She lived to be 102.
Earl Jackson graduated from Tustin High School, Class of 1930. Earl and Evelyn lived in Orange, and he worked for the Irvine Bean and Grain Growers Association. He was later the owner of Jack’s Radio and TV in Tustin from 1960 to 1982.
He died in Orange, California, at the age of 71 a few days after celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary. Evelyn died at age 95. They are both buried in El Toro Memorial Park.
William Andrew “Bill” Cook (2/7/1916-2/27/1966) was born in Irvine, California. He married Lodema Kelly (9/15/1920-10/31/1988) on March 22, 1939. He was 23 and she was 18. They had three children, a boy and two girls.
Lodema Kelly (9/15/1920-10/31/1988) was born in Zena, Oklahoma. Jeannette Milstead Spangler Cook (George Oliver’s wife) contacted her sister Lillie Milstead Kelly and ask her to send her daughter, Lodema, to California to meet Bill. They were married on March 22, 1939, in Zena, Oklahoma. He was 23 and she was 18.
They settled in a rented house on Prospect St in Tustin. He was a mill man for the Irvine Bean and Grain Growers Association. He also was the overseer of the construction of silos at that site. In 1942 they rented a house in Long Beach. From 1942-1946, Bill worked at the Terminal Island Dry Docks as a disbursement Officer and a crane operator.
In May 1946, they bought a family farm in Zena, Oklahoma. In 1951, Bill was in a bad automobile accident requiring a change of profession. They sold the farm and returned to Orange County in 1951.They bought the contents of the Irvine Store. The Irvine Company owned the building which included living quarters above the store. The store at been moved to its present location in 1942. The Cooks were the third family to operate the store. Bill also became the Postmaster for the Irvine Post office. They bought their first home in 1961 on 12572 Catalina Drive, Tustin.
He died in Tustin, California, at the age of 50 and is buried in Fairhaven Cemetery. He was preceded in death by his first daughter Lottie, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1958. She was 15 years old.
Bill was a member of the Santa Ana Elks, The Postmasters Association and the Val Verde Sportsman Club.
Lodema sold the inventory in the store and continued as postmaster until 1969. She married Jesse James Parks, a divorcee, on 3/1/1969. Jesse had been the Tustin Postmaster. They enjoyed their time traveling. When Lodema’s health began to fail, they moved to North Carolina to be with her daughter Faye. Lodema died when she was 68 and is buried in Fairhaven Cemetery.
Harold Roy Spangler (12/20/1912-3/12/1964) was born in Santa Ana, California. He was the stepson of George Oliver Cook. He graduated from Tustin High School in 1930. He attended Santa Ana Community College receiving an AA in Business administration while working as a clerk in a grocery store. Harold enlisted in the National Guard and was activated.
Harold and Alice Elizabeth Martin (5/23/1916-5/27/2019) met in 1935 while attending Santa Ana College. They were married on August 20, 1942. They had four children. They did not have their first child until 1947 due to his military service. She worked as a school librarian in Santa Ana and San Jose CA.
Harold made the Army his career seeing action in both World War II and Korea. He retired from the service 3/1/1961 as a Lieutenant Colonel Infantry. Among his many awards and commendations is the Bronze Star. (See Museum file for more information).
He died two years after his retirement in San Mateo, California, at the age of 51, of a heart attack and is buried in San Bruno, California. Alice outlived her children and died at age 104.
Howard Clyde “Bud” Spangler (3/9/1915-11/9/1974) was born in Santa Ana, California. He married Minnie Alvera Sizer (3/9/1917-5/5/1984) on July 29, 1937, in Orange CA. He was 22 and she was 20. The rented a home on Lime St in Orange. He sold farm implements. Howard enlisted in the Army on 5/17/1943 and served in the Southwest Pacific with honors. He was discharged 12/27/1945. After the war, they remained in the area, and he became the parts manager for Shepard’s Machinery.
They had three children during their marriage. He died on November 9, 1974, in Imperial, California, at the age of 59. She died in Santa Ana at age 67.
Created 8/1/1923. Researched by Faye Cook Pugh, Granddaughter of George Oliver Cook and Vicki Gray
