Cook was born in Cortez on June 14, 1940, to Mathew and Edna (Everett) Wolff. For the first 19 years of her life, she lived in Lebanon, working on the family farm and attending school through eighth grade, according to a news release from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary in Mancos, which selected her.
“I feel very blessed that the VFW Auxiliary selected me to be their 2017 Mancos Days Queen,” Cook said. “It is an honor I share with many women of the Mancos Valley, and I am very humbled and grateful.”
Esther (Wolff) Cook attended Montezuma-Cortez High School and graduated in 1958. She then took accounting classes at Mesa College in Grand Junction.
She has an older brother and sister, Wayne and Edith.
Esther Cook married Jimmy Cook on July 5, 1959, at the Mancos United Methodist Church, and they have been Mancos residents for 58 years. They have two children, Duane and Cristal, who both graduated from Mancos High School. Duane and his wife, Snezhina, own La Plata Insulation and live in Cortez. Cristal is a special agent for the FBI and lives in Aviano, Italy.
After serving in the Navy, Jimmy Cook started a television repair business in 1959 that was later expanded into Cook’s Lumber and Ace Hardware. Esther Cook worked at the hardware store for 24 years. She then worked at Mancos State Bank for four years and Dolores Medical for one year.
In 1988, she went to work for Aramark Mesa Verde Co. and worked in accounts receivable. She retired in 2006 as accounting manager.
Esther Cook now works as the treasurer at Mancos United Methodist Church. She also handles bookkeeping for husband’s business, Aspencraft, which makes hand-turned wooden vases and bowls.
Esther Cook was one of the founding members of the Mancos Business and Professional Women’s Club. She is also a member of P.E.O. International, a philanthropic organization for women. She has been involved with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and has been a member of the Mancos Booster Club.
She made her dress to wear as Mancos Days Queen. For more information on Mancos Days, visit mancosdays.com.