Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

I meant to say, Officer Cook, your parents made sure to properly instill confidence and certainty in all your ways as well as Nancy's too. Like phantoms painted on the magic slide, forth from the darkness of the past we glide, as living shadows for a moment seen in airy pageant on the eternal screen, traced by a ray from on unchanging flame, then seek the dust and stillness where we came. There are no magic formulas that will bring you back with us, Officer Cook. I wish they existed, but for the prompt and quality service you provided Dade County citizens, we can visualize what you stood for, the proper dignity you carried with your badge and the uniform you proudly wore for six years. When they show you face and that smile at the Police Memorial at Tropical Park in Miami, we can all look back, cry and yet remember all the good memories of a life that was well-lived, well thought out and planned in a very fitting manner. As it says in both the Old and the New Testaments, unto dust shall you return. Your precious and beautiful soul has gone on to do what Our creator now has assigned for you and your comrades who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Be that "eternal shadow" watching over those officers who serve and protect us in the most dignified manner as you so solemnly and faithfully executed during your career. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Keep the reservoir of unity and peace flowing perpetually from the heavens above.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 16, 2013

A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things, but without discipline, there is no life at all. You had the proper discipline to achieve all that you set out to accomplish in this world, Officer Cook. You exhibited the morals to properly carry out your solemn duties towards Dade County and its residents. Life is a great joy and a grand bundle of little things. It was these little things and even the most mundane situations that made you the top notch Metro-Dade Police Officer your friends, family and colleagues all grew to get acquainted with. Discipline is like the disciple, in that if the proper message is not decoded, all sorts of bedlam could rear its ugliness in our society. You got a handle on this for six years, now it is up to those who succeeded you to carry this assignment out with the same grace, honor, dignity and proper respect you demanded from other officers. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Police work is not the time to sit back leisurely and in a lazy manner which some of today's officers sadly exhibit thus endangering the lives of their comrades and those civilians they take that affirmation to serve and to protect. We all recognize when it was time for you to go to your job, you gave your department, your division one hundred percent solid and quality service to be remembered by all people. You stood tall in a crisis period and backed up your comrades with that same loyalty and enthusiasm.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 14, 2013

We are but shadows: we are not endowed with real life and all that seems most real about us is but the thinnest substance of a dream-, till the heart be touched. That touch creates us-then we begin to be-thereby we are beings of reality and inheritors of eternity. Police officers are not that much different from all people. They just yearn to do and to accomplish a much more greater task at hand-to serve and to protect. You did this very well, Officer Cook. Your dreams, your hard earned commitment to defend us in times of strife and calm along with that ever present million dollar smile and calming voice of reason gives us all hope that someday we'll be reunited with you in those heavenly shadows where you and approximately twenty-one thousand other brave souls reside to continue the watch from above. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. You touched plenty of souls during your life and career, tragically cut way too short by a person who went beyond the grounds of sanity and took away your liberties that even all officers do enjoy with their partners and loving families.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 14, 2013

Life is made up of sobs, sniffles and smiles, with sniffles predominating. While growing up, Officer Cook, your loving family experienced all of these times and when your life was tragically taken the sobs took over as you were eulogized as a great man, humble, lovable and even more a huge hero to all. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. The good times, the happy times, the sad times were the moments those who knew you shared and now remember very well. Your actions on May 16, 1979, spurred the creation of a better environment in Liberty City, along with newer buildings for its citizens to live and prosper. I'm sure they would all thank you for your courage. Desire, determination and devotion were words in your police vocabulary and words we could all live by today.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 14, 2013

We live by desire to live, we live by choice; by will, by thought, by virtue, by the vivacity of the laws which we obey and obeying share their life,-or we die by sloth, by disobedience, by losing hold of life which ebbs out of us. Your lived your entire life, Officer Cook, by faith and the principles of honest, moral and ethical conduct, which is why your distinguished police career helped to enhance Dade County and its citizens of which you took a solemn affirmation to serve and to protect. Your desire to live was short circuited by a young man who lost touch with reality and this not only is very tragic, but was a tremendous loss to your family and to your community. You'll not be forgotten for your courage, bravery and tenacious leadership. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Your effort to assist people in obedience is the sign for us to obey those laws and regulations which govern our conducts.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 14, 2013

A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. Without discipline, there's no life at all. For twenty-five years of understanding, humility, dignity and grace there for sure was more than enough and plenty more in your accomplished life and career, Officer Cook, one man's lack of discipline, lack of proper behavior cost you your dear life. A life that was chronicled by many moments of joy, fulfillment and much more to offer this world. God determines our life and length of our days, so it is very vital to utilize each moment carefully and to a positive degree. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Your loving parents mad sure both you and Nancy had this trait of proper conduct instilled in you as youngsters so when you grew up and became a Metro- Dade Police Officer, your teachers knew you were going to be a source of dignity and integrity to your community that you loved patrolling, serving and protecting.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 13, 2013

We live amid surfaces and the true art of life is to skate well on them. It is the depth at which we live and not at all the surface extension that imparts. Fill my hour, oh God, so that I may not say, while I have done this, behold, also an hour of my life is gone-but rather, I have lived an hour. You lived, Officer Cook, by principles and proper conduct that is expected from all of us. Police officers are expected to act accordingly at all times and your sacrifice demonstrates this trait to the utmost. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Every breath you took, expanded the scope and intrinsic beauty of this world and it shall never be forgotten.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 12, 2013

Life is a series of surprises. We do not guess today the mood, the pleasure, the power of tomorrow, when we are building up our being. Life consists of what we are thinking each and everyday. You thought about our securities and safety each day you were on patrol, Officer Cook and it was Our Creator who steered your life and that of your beloved wife, Karen. We live for the moment, a thought shared by all police officers who willingly place their safety at risk for their communities on a daily basis. For all these years after your untimely passing, you're always going to be held in the highest esteem for your heroic act on May 16, 1979. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Our yesterday, today and tomorrow will hopefully be much brighter because of your sacrifice.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 11, 2013

I have a rendezvous with life, in days I hope will come, ere youth has sped and strength of mind, ere voices sweet grow dumb....though wet, nor blow, nor space, I fear, yet fear I deeply, too, lest death should greet and claim me ere I keep life's rendezvous. Your valued life and all its contributions to society, Officer Cook, only were for the betterment of modern men and women along with children of all ages. The space you now occupy along with your father, Charles, and all of the other brave men and women of law enforcement who also gave their lives in support of unity and peace serves as our testimony that good people are those treasured angels that Our Creator takes with Him to heaven to keep vigilance over. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 10, 2013

We sleep, but the loom of life never stops and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when it comes up tomorrow. We sleep by day and rest our tired bodies from the toils of the day as you my neighbor, friend and hero, Officer Cook, rest in peace and surround us with your heavenly protection. Life for us can be a struggle, but not a warfare. Though the streets can be filled with battles which police officers patrol to attempt to bring freedom to all.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 10, 2013

The only soil in which liberty can grow is that of a united people. We must have faith that the welfare of one is the welfare of all. We must know that the truth can only be reached by the expression of our free opinions, without fear and without rancor...We must learn to abhor those disruptive pressures, whether religious, political or economic, that the enemies of liberty employ. First of all, today, I attended our son Joshua Abraham's instillation into the National Honor Society, perhaps growing up you were I'm sure, Officer Cook, a very bright young man. When they started playing the National Anthem, I started to sob a bit, looking at the American flag and remembering they play this at Inspector's Funerals. I thought of you, and someone mentioned courage, responsibility and intellect. All three of these character traits allowed you to perform your duties with the respect and dignity that your position demands. Afterward, I met my son and really started sobbing, I told him that police officers such as yourself made great sacrifices so that you and your friends could be up on the stage receiving these honors. Then I proceeded to visit your grave this morning, pulled away some weeds and placed a few stones on your stone or ledger as some call it. Yes, we can truly declare our liberties were brought forth because of you, my neighbor, friend and hero, Officer William C. Cook, who rests in peace under God's fertile green soil. You guarded and served us all with a compassion and fought valiantly to preserve our spiritual, political and physical rights to live in a peaceful and more caring community. You attempted to eliminate hatred, ban bigotry and racial discrimination, so that "We Shall Be One," that which is solemnly inscribed on your gravestone. I'm not afraid to show my emotions for a grown man, after all, your niece Gina, comforted me at your parents home. You sir will not be forgotten.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 10, 2013

Liberty does not consist...in mere declarations of the rights of man. It consists in the translation of those declarations into definite actions. Officer Cook, you were a compassionate man of action, who let his deeds speak soundly for themselves. You were not an I, my or me kind of gentleman, it was us, we and our kind of police officer. Unselfish and not self-centered, caring and loyal with regret or doubt. Your words profoundly left a humbling effect on the citizens you served and protected proudly. They were not words of embarrassment, only of encouragement. You only lived your life with Karen one way, upbeat and only accentuating positive results. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Mrs. Cook and to Mrs. Nancy Tidwell, you raised one great son and your brother stood tall among the doom and gloom in society, demonstrating a most remarkable courage not found in most people. He will always be fondly remembered by my family and myself.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 9, 2013

God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and to defend it. This is the only thing you cannot have unless you are willing to give it to others. You were always willing to get involved in helping others succeed an din making them the very best police officers they could be, Officer Cook. We need more commitments from what is there already. More people willing to tolerate more to achieve a more practical reality. You were among the faithful public servants in Dade County who stood his ground and yet responded to calls in an effort to bring about a peaceful resolution. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. You brought about happiness through liberty rather than in spite of liberty. You without reservation surrendered your own freedoms, in order that we could continue our dreams, desires or whatever we choose to accomplish. Simply put you made it happen and we can never ever forget your valiant achievements or the diligence with which your lived each day by through and through.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 9, 2013

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. If the true spark of religious and civil liberty be kindled, it will burn. Human agency cannot extinguish it. Like the earth's central fire, it may be smothered for a time; the ocean may overwhelm it; mountains may press it down; but its inherent and unconquerable force will heave both the ocean and the land and at some time or other, in some place or other, the volcano will break out and flame up to heaven. You were the true spark, Officer Cook, the unquestionable thinking man's police officer. Just a humbly proud member of a very proud and astute police department. Metro-Dade Police Department says it all. Your passion to assist others will never die down, your loving and revered soul will forever lit up God's heavenly abode where you and other excellently trained, brave women and men proudly walk in unison together as one shift making certain we are safe and sound in this world. Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable. Your separation is only temporary as one day we will unite with you and your father, Charles, may you both rest in peace, my neighbor, friend and hero. In the last reflection I meant to say, if that young man had voluntarily complied with your order to surrender.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 9, 2013

I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was two things I had a right to, liberty and death. If I could not have one, I would have the other, for no man should take me alive. No person, no police officer, should give their lives in vain. If only that young man I voluntarily complied with your orders, Officer Cook, you might be here with your loving family and friends today. Today is here, tomorrow is not promised, so we have to make the best of everyday no matter the situation we are thrust into. You were an upbeat, positive thinker whose ways revolutionized your department. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Officers give up their lives in the performance of their duties, so that our liberties rein down forevermore.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 8, 2013

He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression. When this liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered. You made certain, Officer Cook, that our freedoms remained intact and you gave up your life and the liberties that all police officers still enjoy when off duty. You could have ignored that call, but your police mindset would never ever allow you to do otherwise, you were truly one humbly committed , brave and loyal public servant to our community. We will forever be indebted to your service. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 8, 2013

Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which primed liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your door. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage and you prepare your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of others, you have lost the genius of your own independence and become fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you. First and foremost, we come to rely on all police officers as our first line of defense to insure our freedoms, liberties and the peaceful unities that our communities call for. This was your vital role, Officer Cook, to stay with us and set the course in which law abiding citizens would always have the chosen liberty to continue and to pursue whatever avenues they decide to travel down. This was, what has been and always will be depicted for brave souls such as yourself, to achieve a balance patriotism and tyranny. You placed your entire being, all two-hundred and forty eight blood vessels and three-hundred and sixty-five organs on the line displaying great courage as all officers do in our fight to maintain right over wrong. Your pride and shrewd genius as a Metro-Dade Police Officer enhanced by your ever present maturity would not allow others to willfully stomp on us and infringe upon our God given rights to live in a free society. Your valor that fateful day will always and only serve as the motivating factor in our battle to rein in evil. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 8, 2013

The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave. Liberty without learning is always in peril and learning without liberty is always in vain. If you could only imagine, Officer Cook, looking down from the heavens above, the roar of the waves crashing against the seashore. You took the liberties you were given as a police officer and utilized them as a positive attribute in your community. The citizens, all the people came to know and love you for the man who stood up to evil and stood up proudly as their defender of their right to have freedom, liberty and justice for all women, men and children, young and old. You were their blessing and Godsend all in one. God created a marvelously talented and a distinctly humble person in His image, never to be forgotten. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 8, 2013

Liberty is always unfinished business. Individual liberty is individual power and as the power of a community is a mass compounded of individual powers, the nation which enjoys the most freedom must necessarily be in proportion to its numbers the most powerful nation. We are supposed to be the most powerful nation in the world, but sometimes the way our leaders and even the most powerful of leaders in the free world, the president act seems to leave me in doubt as to how our country is being run on a daily basis. We are in the midst of a government shutdown. How can one explain this? Officer Cook, the person who took your young life so full of promise and future fulfillment took an unmitigated liberty to commit a violent crime against a police officer and its department, a man of humility and full of resolve, a vital cog within your division's ranks, who acted in an unselfish and a most heroic manner to save the lives of seven people that day of May 16, 1979, and it seems to perpetually occur as our law enforcement personnel continue to fully give their lives in courage and in bravery to serve and protect its citizens and their communities. When will this bloodshed end? We realize police officers are empowered to act on behalf of our best interests and to use discretion which is the better part of valor, but reality can stare one squarely in the face if we don't act. We try and educate people, police go through this same process, somehow things need to be better balanced, enhanced if you will. I know we can make our communities safer and more productive. It is the heroes and heroines such as yourself, Officer Cook, my neighbor, friend and hero who made a distinct difference and your treasured spirit will hold us to this affirmation. Rest in peace.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 8, 2013

Wisdom, sensitivity, thoughtfulness and humor are attributes of which a police officer needs to leave their homes with each day in order to succeed and to return home safely after their watches. You never left home, never left your beloved wife, Karen, Officer Cook, without hugging her and appreciating all that our companions do for us to facilitate our achievements. Life has continued for Karen, the emotional roller coasters that they have to overcome, at least try to overcome the grief that they suffer when their spouse sacrifices their life for our betterment is tough to say the least, but with an emotional support system, it certainly helps them to sustain and to subsist. Never to be forgotten, you were one of truly many heroes and heroines who made Dade streets safer with your abundant presence. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. Always offer your mother, Nancy and your Aunt Karen my fondest and sincerest regards,as well as your grandmother, Mrs. Julia Cook, Gina.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 7, 2013

Law is the crystallization of the habit and thought of society. And you mad this succinctly clear, Officer Cook, in all your ways of dealing with the public. You were the best that Dade County had patrolling its venues. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. All your approaches should only be habit forming.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 7, 2013

Where experience goes above the bounds of logic, it was this experience which you gained from, Officer Cook, by observing other fellow officers in their handling of various issues that cropped up from time to time. Your maturity as reflected upon was many years beyond your youthful appearance. But this only served you as a positive attribute. Many other factors help shape and mold a quality police officer, as you and your comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice all shared and are now sharing this among yourselves in God's golden kingdom. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 7, 2013

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed. Whether or not the laws of the land are hard to obey or not, we still need honest and hard working brave men and women like yourself, Officer Cook, to assist citizens in their obedience of these laws. If we could eliminate all crime from this land, we probably would not need as many dedicated and devoted police officers whose affirmations stand, rather represent more than just a bit of lip service. As long as police officers follow the laws and regulation that govern them in their commitment to serve and to protect, it does not matter as long as they don't cross that proverbial line of dishonesty. Your way of solving problems and crimes by using a soothing and calming voice was something all officers could emulate. That emulation is sure missed today. Ignorance of one's responsibility is still no excuse for one to run haywire or to shirk their obligations towards the citizens they are bound to serve. You only performed at a one-hundred percent peak and expected no less from your comrades. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 7, 2013

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed. Whether or not the laws of the land are hard to obey or not, we still need honest and hard working brave men and women like yourself, Officer Cook, to assist citizens in their obedience of these laws. If we could eliminate all crime from this land, we probably would not need as many dedicated and devoted police officers whose affirmations stand, rather represent more than just a bit of lip service. As long as police officer follow the laws and regulation that govern them in their commitment to serve and to protect, it does not matter as long as they don't cross that proverbial line of dishonesty. Your way of solving problems and crimes by using a soothing and calming voice was something all officers could emulate. That emulation is sure missed today. Ignorance of one's responsibility is still no excuse for one to run haywire or to shirk their obligations towards the citizens they are bound to serve. You only performed at a one-hundred percent peak and expected no less from your comrades. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 7, 2013

Law is the expression and the perfection of common sense. And it is these laws and institutions that constantly tend to gravitate. Like clocks, they must be occasionally cleansed and wound up, then set to true time. Police officers from time to time need to review their basic police academy training and then revisit their police manuals on proper police conduct when on duty. Like doctors and lawyers who need to attend seminars to keep up with modern advances in their chosen professions, so do officers need to attend these same seminars to update their basic skill sets. I'm certain, Officer Cook, you did this more than a few times during your valued career with the Metro-Dade Police Department and it certainly was an invaluable experience for you to humbly keep up with any latest breakthroughs which helped to serve you well. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero, help keep God's eternal clocks beating constantly and well oiled to serve those in this society protect and serve us in the seemingly never ending battle of wickedness.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

October 7, 2013