KAY COOK RECEIVES CITY AWARD
Written and presented by Mayor Brigetta Klemek

Some people live in the same place their whole lives and never work to make it better. Others move into a new community and fall into their old patterns of life and never change a thing. Then there are people like Kay Cook. They move to a new area and adopt a town as their own putting their heart and soul into it…striving to make it an even better place to live.

That is what Kay Cook has done with Cold Spring.

Neil Cook married Kay 37 years ago. They had a ‘normal’ life, the two children, Brian and Christine. The houses in the suburbs, and after the kids were old enough, Kay started work at Hennepin County Medical center in admissions.


Kay retired from her full time position at Hennepin County Medical Center in 1988 where she ran the Admissions Department for many years. She and her husband, Neil, had been building a house South of Richmond on the Horseshoe Chain of lakes together and the labor of their love and hard work was ready to be moved into.

After being married to Kay for over 20 years Neil thought he was going to have a quiet retirement that included lots of fishing and naps. Not so with Kay. She was onto her next phase of life, a Full-Swing, no holds barred, volunteering phase.

She started with what she cares about. “If you live on a lake, you have got to take care of it.” With that in mind, even before she moved onto the chain, she was already helping and involved with the Minnesota Lakes Association. “If I don’t step up to the plate and pitch in, how can I expect anyone else to do it?”
It is not just part of protecting the property that you live on with a lake. It is protecting where the water comes from. This is a natural resource for our children and grandchildren.”


People in the city are aware of her passion. The term that has been coined because of her passion is “Kay’s Thing”.

The more Kay learned about lakes, the more she got involved and jazzed on water quality issues. Naturally, other water boards and organizations followed. She is active in no less than seven water boards. Their names are the alphabet soup of acronyms. And they run from local, to the county and state level. Her activism and work to protect water throughout Minnesota has been noticed, and not just by us. Kay is serving a term on the Minnesota Board of Soil and Water where she was selected and appointed to this position by Governor Tim Pawlenty.

Kay not only works to clean up the lakes, she wants to spread the gospel on how to keep them clean in the first place. She realizes the way to do this is thru our children and education. With this in mind she has helped develop award winning curriculum, and hands on teaching tools that are available fee for elementary schools to teach students to help protect our waterways. Kay believes the way to reach the parents is to train their children and they will teach what they have learned to adults.

Kay is also a believer in fun. I have heard Kay say, “If it’s not fun, why do it.” I’m sure that’s why Kay volunteers with a new group at her faith home, Peace Lutheran Church. This was the POPS group, which stands for Prime Timers of Peace. This group of active retirees is interested in fellowship, and fundraising with the emphasis on FUN. They organize and coordinate the delectable Swedish Meatball dinners and other events in the life of Peace Lutheran and the community.


I asked Pastor Ron Backes of Peace Lutheran to give me three words to describe Kay. He answers were Humor, caring and dedicated. Pastor Ron reflects, “Kay is active and consistent in the congregation. She can be a spokesperson, but often works in the background and covers all the bases. At every significant event in the church, Kay has had some hand in planning, organizing and implementing the event.

Pearl Larson believes this about Kay. “Kay is organized, caring and always there for you. She is fun to talk to and is ambitious. Not for herself, but in the sense of believing in what a dedicated group of people can accomplish. That’s what I mean by ambitious.”

When she served as the Executive Director of the Cold Spring Chamber, Kay knew Cold Spring had tremendous challenges in growth ahead of us. Kay looked to see what she could do to help our community help itself. Kay learned of the success of the Initiative Foundations’ Healthy Communities program.

She recruited a group of 20 community residents to go thru their series of workshops to bring new ideas and lasting success to Cold Spring. This group is now called the 20/20 Vision Team. At the groups urging, she agreed to Co-Chair this two year long commitment to Cold Spring. She helps oversee this large group of volunteers and also signed on to be part of the Natural Resources committee.

Nadine Schnettler serves and volunteers with Kay on the 20/20 Vision Team. Kay is a very connected person. She is excellent at connecting people or groups that would compliment each other. She believes in getting them together so that they can do better and go farther than they would on their own.” An example would be connecting an organization that has a worthwhile program but no funding with another group that has money but lacks a plan or education component.

Ambition and her connectedness also led Kay to apply and win a trip from the Minnesota Design Team to Cold Spring last June. When Kay served as the Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce in town, Larry Lahr told her about an organization of professionals that helped a community find its own voice, realize its potential and plan for its future.
Kay knew that to keep the momentum going after the Design Team weekend, you needed citizens trained to keep the dreams of the community moving forward. This led to the Initiative Foundation and their Healthy Communities Partnership. A lunchen was organized that could help identify citizens of not just the city, but from the community that would help make the dreams reality.

Larry agreed to help Kay with statistical information for the city, but Kay voluntarily did the heavy lifting for the 80 page application. She also wrote a grant and scared up much of the $3800 dollars for the application fee. After that she pulled together a Steering Committee. They spent 3 months, meeting weekly, to plan the experience. She chaired the entire planning process and oversaw the whole weekend. She kept us on track, all the while chiming, “Are we having Fun Yet?” Everyone knew that if something went wrong or there was a problem, you called Kay.

One thing I know about Kay is she is good at getting money. She will look you in the eye, tell you how you can help, and come back again for more if it’s needed. All the while making you feel good about your contribution and how you helped out. It is always for a good cause, nothings ever wasted. But few people have this ability and Cold Spring has been the lucky recipient on many occasions. Weather it is thru a generous company, individual or many little donations Kay believes if the cause is worthwhile, the money will come from somewhere.

I , myself have witnessed that Kay is always looking for the silver lining in any given situation. She always displays tact and diplomacy. She wants to give the other person the benefit of the doubt. Believing that their intentions are a s pure as her own.


Terri Bibeau, Kay Cook & Brigetta Klemek

Kay says that volunteering means doing something useful. I can’t think of many other people that display the qualities more than she does. Kay steps up to the plate and gets things done. Usually behind the scenes or out in front, taking the bullet if something goes
Wrong.

Tonight we honor Kay because of her efforts to improve Cold Spring and the quality of Life for those that live here. On behalf of the Cold Spring Chamber, I now would like to recognize and present Kay Cook with the first , HOME TOWN PRIDE AWARD!