Obituary of Elaine Cook
Elaine Ellsworth Rogers Cook, a New Canaan native, hospital volunteer, long-time member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Altar Guild and frequent blue ribbon winner for flower arranging at the New Canaan Garden Club, died on July 23, 2015 in New Canaan, CT. She was one week shy of her 101st birthday.
Mrs. Cook was born August 1, 1914 in the St. John house on Park Street in New Canaan, the fourth child of John S. Ellsworth Jr. and Lida (Burpee) Ellsworth. She grew up on St. John Place with kids from New Canaan families: Hall, Kellogg and Perkins. She often recalled her idyllic childhood as a “terrible tomboy,” playing boys’ sports and catching rides on the horse-drawn wagons that delivered coal and ice. Her parents were among the founders of New Canaan Country Club and at the age of seven she learned to play golf, a passion she continued for the next eighty-one years.
She attended the Community School (later New Canaan Country School) and graduated from Low-Heywood in Stamford, which at that time was an all-girls school. In 1937 she married Charles Francis Rogers Jr., grandson of John Rogers, the sculptor whose studio forms part of the New Canaan Historical Society. She had three children, Catherine, John and Laura. The marriage ended in divorce and in 1957 she married Horace Taylor Cook Jr. and moved to Princeton, NJ. Upon his death she returned to New Canaan.
Mrs. Cook was also a Brownie and Cub Scout leader. Her love for golf, gardening and sports never waned, and at close to ninety years of age she was still mowing her own lawn.
Her only son John died in 1996. She is survived by her daughters Catherine Rogers Stokes of Westport and Laura Rogers of Norwalk; granddaughter Caroline Murphy Douthit of Arlington, VA; grandson Matthew Murphy of West Hartford, CT; granddaughter Jennifer Rogers of New York City and five great-grandchildren.
Donations in Mrs. Cook’s name can be made to the New Canaan Historical Society. A memorial service will be held in October.
Sympathy cards and correspondences may be sent to:
Hoyt Funeral Home
199 Main St.,
New Canaan, CT 06840
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