Charles Edward Cook died of congestive heart failure on March 25, 2012. He was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas on 27, January, 1924.

His parents moved to Maryland in 1930 and Mr. Cook attended Hyattsville schools through high school. After two years at the University of Maryland, he joined the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served ashore and at sea until released to inactive duty in 1946. He worked for Boeing Airplane Company in Seattle, Washington, as a junior engineer and later attended and graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle.

In 1948, he married Margaret Wright of Kent, Washington. They returned to the Washington, D.C., area in 1949 and Mr. Cook worked for Kitt Music Company, U.S. Army Map Service, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and retired from the U.S. Navy Department in 1979. He retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Mr. Cook had three daughters with his first wife; she died in 1985.

Mr. Cook married Grace Creeger Wood in 1988 in Lusby, Maryland. They were able to enjoy travel in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe.

Mr. Cook always had an interest in music, for which he started lessons at the age of six years. While in the Navy, he played clarinet and keyboard instruments in station bands and in shipboard bands. While stationed at Lawrence College, he studied organ at the Lawrence Conservatory of Music.

He taught keyboard instruments in Seattle and Maryland. After retirement, he became organist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Prince Frederick. Before his retirement, Mr. Cook taught evening classes in photogrammetry at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Cook served on the publications committee of the American Society of Photogrammetry and contributed articles for publication. He was editor of the Society Newsletter. He had a private pilot's license, maintained a complete wood working shop when he retired to Drum Point in Lusby, Maryland, and was happy to design and construct much of his house there. He was a member of the Southern Maryland Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), and for a time edited their newsletter. In 2005, Mr. Cook and his wife moved to Asbury-Solomons CCRC, where he was active in the Woodworking Club and contributed to the in-house paper. He also used his musical talents to entertain other residents at Asbury-Solomons.

Mr. Cook is survived by wife Grace Creeger Cook, children Virginia Cook Thiebaud and her husband Steve Thiebaud, Barbara Cook and her husband John Kittridge, and Margaret (Peggy) Cook Scribner and her husband Gary Scribner, three stepchildren, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, 2012 in the auditorium at Asbury-Solomons.

Should friends desire, contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 1041 Route #3 North, Building A
Gambrills, Maryland 21054 www.cancer.org or to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Philip Merrill Environmental Center, 6 Herndon Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21403 www.cbf.org in his memory.

Arrangements by the Rausch Funeral Home, P. A., Lusby, MD.