Cleric.
Born at Lincolnshire, England on 21 November 1866, son of John Cooke and Elizabeth Hewins, he came to Canada with his parents in 1882 and arriving in Winnipeg aboard the newly constructed railway line from Emerson. He farmed in Saskatchewan for some years and, on returning to Winnipeg, he delivered water, dug ditches, and worked at the law firm of Frank Stayner Nugent and Richard Willis Jameson.
In 1885, he was accepted into the Methodist ministry and, in October 1888, was the first student in the first class of three to attend Wesley College. He graduated in 1892 and served as a student minister with Rev. James Endicott at Fort Rouge Methodist Church. He later held pastorates at Prince Albert (Saskatchewan), Young Methodist Church (1896-1900), Zion Methodist (1910-1913), Cypress River Methodist Church (?-?), Morden Methodist Church (?-?), Crystal City Methodist Church (?-?), St. Paul’s Methodist Church (?-?), Neepawa Methodist Church (?-?), First Methodist Church at Brandon (?-?), and Killarney Methodist Church (?-?). He received a doctorate in divinity from Wesley College in 1910 and retired from active ministry in 1931.
He served as President of the Manitoba Methodist Conference (1909) and was active in interdenominational commitees preceding church union in 1925. He was General-Secretary of Winnipeg Church Extension and City Mission Association (1913-1915). He succeeded J. S. Woodsworth as Superintendent of the Stella and Sutherland Missions. He was Vice-President of the Children's Aid Society of Winnipeg.
In 1894, he married Martha Stoddard Colby (1865-1951) and they had a son, A. C. Cooke. He was President of the Canadian Club of Brandon.
He died at Vancouver, British Columbia on 21 June 1954.
Death registrations [Walter Allison Cooke, Martha Stoddard Cooke], British Columbia Vital Statistics.
“W. A. Cooke, former city cleric, dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 24 June 1954, page 33.
“Heard Riel trial, Rev. W. A. Cooke dies at coast,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 June 1954, page 38.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 July 2022
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