Dottie Cook

Dottie Mae Cook was born March 28th 1951, in Chicago, Illinois, to Walter August Eggert and Dorothy Odell Vack. Dottie was the 2nd out of 7 children born to that union. The family migrated to Rosiclare, Illinois, where on a bright sunny day while Dottie was sunbathing in the yard at the tender age of 15, a 17 year old garbage man announced that one day he would marry that beauty in the bikini. On March 13, 1966, Dottie and the love of her life, Bennie Ray Cook, tied the knot at the courthouse with their parents permission since they were 15 and then 18 years of age. June 25th 1968, the young couple welcomed their first born child, Charles (Chuckie) Henry Cook. Bennie & Dottie endured 2 years of hospitals due to Chuckie’s severe health issues and Chuckie went home to his heavenly father in 1970. At the time of the loss of Chuckie, Dottie was pregnant with their second baby boy who also went home to his heavenly father hand in hand with Chuckie. In 1977, their daughter Tara was born and everyone in Rosiclare knew it as Bennie went through town honking and yelling that his healthy baby girl was born. In 1999, their granddaughter, who quickly became the center of their world, Alexandra was born. Through the years, Dottie worked at the Drug Store and Bobs Food Mart in Rosiclare and retired from Shawnee Telephone Company after 33 years serving it’s customers with a sweet voice and smile at the other end of the telephone line.

Dottie was a unique combination of delicacy and true grit, having endured more in a lifetime than anyone should, she would dress in blazers, tiny high heels, jewelry, a lot of perfume, hair teased high to heaven, looking beautiful, delicate & graceful yet somehow indestructible, our little sweet, steel magnolia. Dottie took great pride in her home & yard often lighting both up like airplane runways or taking over the mowing because no one did it just right. Some of Dottie’s infamous sayings were “If God loved a liar, he would squeeze you to death” & “I love you with all my heart & soul”. Dottie would give the shirt off her back to anyone, always wanted to make sure everyone was fed & taken care of (she would wake you up to ask you if you were sleeping ok), go out of her way to do something special for someone, decorate envelopes & the dollars with rhinestones, send cards or give random gifts & binder clip or baggy everything she owned. Dottie was also known for her beautiful calligraphy which was her every day handwriting, for using a pound of butter in anything she cooked and how hard the tiny woman could smack ya when she was joking. Dottie enjoyed watching turner classic movies or westerns, painting her nails, bird watching, talking with her siblings on the phone, collecting dolls, angels & crosses, making trips to Smokin Joe’s, anything that cost $1.00, drawing, hot glue gun crafts or sunbathing on the roof of her home with her nieces, spending time with friends and family, all things George Strait (the other man in her life), spoiling her baby girls Tara & Alex with pin money and dancing the nights away with her soulmate Bennie.

Dottie danced into Bennie’s arms on the streets of gold on March 29th, 2025. Dottie was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, 2 sons, Bill (Peggy) Bud, Robbie, Barney Cook, Bonnie Malcom & Courtney Spivey. Dottie leaves behind her daughter Tara, granddaughter Alexandra (Jaron) Austin, future great grandson Colter Ray Austin, brothers Ronnie (Luana), Buddy (Candi), Ray (Sheila) Eggert, sisters Cecelia Tegtmeier, Eleanor Smith, Donna Wyas, in laws Bob (Ellen) Cook, Bertis (Becky) Cook, Ronnie Malcom & many nieces & nephews.

The family will receive visitors from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Hardin County Funeral Services with the funeral to follow at 1:00 p.m. on April 2, 2025. Dottie will then be laid to rest next to Bennie at Central Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family ask that contributions be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Dottie’s memory, a cause she contributed to monthly.