{"id":12614,"date":"2025-10-22T22:13:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T22:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/12614\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T22:13:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T22:13:26","slug":"staten-island-homemaker-and-beloved-matriarch-dies-at-98","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/12614\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island homemaker and beloved matriarch, dies at 98"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"G4ERAOIMFZHJNFBD6ES5RFSVSI\">Joan Millicent Cook (nee Ashcroft), a devoted homemaker who dedicated her life to her family, died Thursday at her home. She was 98.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"RUOTI4VR7BFUPEJMD7CGILU3NY\">Born in Brooklyn, on Dec. 24, 1926, Mrs. Cook was the second youngest of 11 children. She remained close to her sisters throughout her life, often recalling the fond memories of her happy childhood. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"MYMSFOLAKRCXHPI4WQI3BWN35U\">Those early experiences shaped her approach to family life, as she worked tirelessly to create a warm, cheerful home for her children and grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"BBC2OIARLJDGBBPG3LUVX7F5MY\">Mrs. Cook took great pride in the cleanliness of her home and had a passion for decorating in a country style. Her collections of dolls, chickens, knickknacks and treasured gifts were carefully arranged on shelves, with not a speck of dust to be found. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"JYABQMZJV5HTDILGUUMM4S4ZGI\">She would often say with a smile, \u201cI was up doing my housework at 5:30 this morning!\u201d Her remarkable energy earned her the affectionate nickname of \u201cThe Energizer bunny.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"E2BLGBYBBJFFRACY5FBZOI5Q6Q\">\u201cMy mom was eternally youthful and had an ageless beauty,\u201d said her daughter, Dawn Daniels. \u201cNo matter how she felt, she never gave in. She was strong and had a beautiful spark in her eyes. It is hard to imagine life going on without her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"7IZOLGHCANGL3F33GGUU6DSLGM\">Mrs. Cook worked in the payroll offices of Woolworth\u2019s and Abraham and Straus in the 1940s before marrying the love of her life, Roy Lee Douglas Cook, in 1950. They were married for 65 years before he preceded her in death in 2015.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"LSSJ5IZY5ZGQ3OHIGMC3KLTXUQ\">Together, they were longtime members of the congregation of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses in West Brighton, where they were active for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"N7URBYJ67NHYFGKFESTKWZ722A\">Her grandson, Shane DiMaio, fondly remembered her home: \u201cGoing to grandma\u2019s house was like going to your happy place. When you walked into her front door, you forgot all of the day-to-day stresses, and you were instantly comforted by her loving presence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"7VJHP6CN6FHPBJLNLNCCYGYE6U\">Mrs. Cook is survived by two sons, Roy Lee Douglas Cook Jr. and David Cook; two daughters, Denise DiMaio and Dawn Daniels; nine grandchildren, Jill Levenberg, Jamie Mantagas, Erin Cook, Kristin Cook, Ian Cook, Shane DiMaio, Daniel Rourke, Lola Cook and Brendan Daniels; six great-grandchildren, Rachel Levenberg, Grayson Mantagas, Weston Mantagas, Aria DiMaio, Ronin Zucchino and Loveda Cook, and in-laws Patty Cook, Craig Daniels and Julie Cook.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"OHOTBFZ7ARENFLJJNXVTSQEVIE\">A private memorial service will be held in accordance with her wishes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4JOSA5HPDJGANHWWTVF3DGXGBM\">The family requests donations to the congregation of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses in her memory.<\/p>\n<p>If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/user-agreement.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/privacy-policy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joan Millicent Cook (nee Ashcroft), a devoted homemaker who dedicated her life to her family, died Thursday at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-12614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}