1966-11-14 – 2025-03-01 - After a four-month walloping by brain cancer, Darlene Suzanne Cook passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 1, 2025 surrounded by her angels and her adoring family.
On November 8th, she was diagnosed with glioblastoma. A week later, on her 58th birthday, she had the tumours removed—a less-than-ideal present. Four months later, after fighting the hardest her cancer allowed, she is at rest.
Daughter to the late Colin Shaw and the recently deceased Theresa Shaw, who she always called Ma or Trese. Sister to Colin Shaw and Kenny Shaw (Patty), predeceased by her sisters Jeanne Shaw and Debbie Caruso. Soulmate and best friend to James (Jim) Cook. Adoring and adored mother to Sean Cook (Natalie) and Alicia Levesque (Matthew). Beloved aunt to Ken Hilderly Jr., Morgan LaViolette, and Sierra Bloemsma. Daughter-in-law to Samuel Cook and the late Norma Cook. Sister-in-law to Cindy Bloemsma (Allan).
Mummy to her teddy bear dogs Cozy and Mochi. “Darlene” to her rescued cat, Max. Predeceased by her Bichon Frise, Poppy. Grandma to dogs Eevee and Scout and cats Tigger, Adara, Winnie, and Margot.
The youngest of five kids and the only one to stay in the Sault, she had a special bond with her mother, Ma. They were kindred spirits, in many ways the same person just with a few decades’ difference in birthdays. They had the same heart, the same kindness, the same interests. They both spent their lives volunteering, a teenage Darlene starting as a candy striper at the hospital while Ma ran exercise programs. They both almost always had crochet hooks in their hands. Until dementia made it impossible, they called each other every night to check in, sometimes even at 2 in the morning. Besides their kids, there was no one more precious to the other.
For Darlene though, there was one exception—her Jim. Jim and Darlene knew each other from Sir James Dunn High School, but they never remember talking until their time at Algoma University. She was working on a bachelor’s in psychology, but her certificate in data processing and many statistics classes put her directly into computer science student Jim’s path. He was a tutor in the computer lab. He wasn’t getting her hints, so she got his number from someone else and called him, asking if he wanted to get some coffee. Hating coffee, Jim escalated and instead, he asked her out to a movie. She must have had a good time, because he managed to get the city girl into camping, fishing, and hunting. A few years later, they were married, living in the Heritage Place apartment complex until they settled in the P-Patch subdivision. Shortly thereafter, Jim was surrounded by redheaded children, and the rest of their lives began.
Starting when Alicia entered junior kindergarten, Darlene resumed her volunteering and she spent a decade as head of Ben R. McMullen Public School’s PTA, walking over there nearly every day to help out with one program or another. The milk program, family fun night, lunchtime popcorn, the book fair, the Santa Sale, and the fruits and vegetables program were all run or started by her. It wasn’t until Alicia left for high school that she stopped, even then still giving a hand when needed as a lunch monitor.
With the kids off to high school and then university, she continued her adventures with Jim. They started a business together selling optics as Rua Foireann Inc.—Gaelic for “red team”, after their family of gingers. What began as a hobby for Jim grew over a decade into a going concern. With Darlene handling the finances and inventory while Jim coordinated between the dealers and the factory, together they shipped thousands of orders to hundreds of customers across the country.
She was a special person to have as a mother. She was patient and understanding. She was playful, colouring the world with the silliness and whimsy it sorely misses. She put so much of her time in her kids’ interests, just so she could stay connected with them, even through their tumultuous adolescence. Even after Sean and Alicia moved out, they still came back to finish the shows they started with her, still sought her for her counsel.
It's hard to capture someone as precious as her in something as simple as words—all we can do is outline her silhouette through the things she liked. She watched almost everything, but she clung to her comedies, always loving Eddie Murphy and Bill Murray the most. She loved music, from George Michael to Michael Bublé, Richard Marx to Rick Astley. If you gave her any three words, she could probably sing a song with those lyrics. She loved reading, and made sure her kids felt the same. She loved Precious Moments and Royal Doulton figurines, decorative plates, angels, and Snoopy. She loved her pets like they were her small fuzzy babies.
Christmas was her favourite season, and every year she swapped out almost every decoration in the living room for a more festive alternative. Every year came a different set of crafts for her to give out like confetti to family and friends. Lightbulbs and egg cartons became snowmen with top hats. Clothespins became reindeer. Plastic rings became angels. The tree was overloaded with decorations, the handmade ornaments arranged in a beautiful chaos. That creativity will be forever missing from our lives, but the creations she left behind will live on for decades.
For as long as it is, this obituary still should have been longer. It should go through a sprawling life of love and volunteering and mothering and grandmothering, but it can’t. There is no satisfaction to be found here, no silver lining. When we lost Ma in December, we could say she had lived ninety-five percent of a century—a respectable amount by anyone’s measure. Darlene was taken too early. Everyone is, but her especially. She was robbed of being a grandmother, of retiring with her husband.
We were robbed of living that life with her, of giving her the decades of joy she deserved. The rest of our lives will be spent missing her, of longing for what should have been, and doing our best to make her proud. All we can hope for now is she’s with Ma and Poppy in a cozy living room somewhere, drinking Pepsi, and eating some popcorn in front of the TV.
If love could have saved her, she would have lived forever.
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Darlene appreciated the many years of friendship she had with Dan and Marilena Ebert, Mike and Karen Aelick, Irma Bull and her late mother Annie Rebek, Eileen Boniferro, and Pauline Bell. At Ben R., she enjoyed working alongside Frank Palumbo, Dorieta Major, Jennifer Weeks, Melanie Gualtieri, Steve Giddings, Rick Tomas, Sharon Dion, Steven Dixon, Susan Graham, Bridget Heimonen, Nancy Heintzman, Debbie Martsch, and Lynn Brown.
It takes a village to keep a person healthy and looking respectable, and as such she would want to thank Diane Amadio and Catherine O’Donnell for years of excellent haircuts, Dr. Pauline Bragaglia for her medical care, and Dr. Richard Silvano for regularly reconstructing her surprisingly fragile teeth.
As a family, we are forever grateful to Dr. Stefano Priola, who gave all of us the little time she had left. By the time we knew the tumour existed, we were weeks or days away from losing her. We were told nine out of ten surgeons wouldn’t have touched her. He was that one, and he bought us precious months with her. Not nearly as many as we wanted, but he gave us a chance to make the most of what we had. We were able to say goodbye and spend weeks making her as comfortable as possible, never leaving her side.
The nurses who helped her during these last few months in Sudbury after the surgery and in the Soo through her recovery cannot be thanked enough. We also owe a special debt of gratitude to Dr. Sarah White (who had the unfortunate honour of treating Darlene and Theresa both), the nurses, and the personal support workers that helped us keep her at home until the very end. Because of them, despite her growing needs, she was able to stay with her puppies and watch Magnum, P.I. and Miami Vice in comfort while we loaded her with her favourite foods.
A celebration of life for both Theresa and Darlene will be held on Friday, July 18th, 2025. There will be a graveside service at Greenwood cemetery in Sault Ste. Marie at 11am, followed by a Celebration of Life lunch at Grand Gardens. For details and to RSVP (only requested), please visit https://forms.gle/kn7kWm9gsZRP5vCD9 or https://hlsn.ca/darlene.
For anyone unable to attend, you are invited to view the service online starting at 11 am and will be able to view anytime up to 90 days, go to www.funeraweb.tv and select Darlene's name. Arrangement entrusted to Arthur Funeral Home - Barton & Kiteley Chapel (492 Wellington St. East 705-759-2522). Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be made at www.arthurfuneralhome.com for the family.
In lieu of flowers, Darlene would appreciate donations (payable by cheque or online) to ARCH (https://www.archhospice.ca/donate). We were lucky enough to be able to take care of her at home, but ARCH was ready and waiting for her the moment she needed it.
In the end, the message she would want everyone to hear is this: Don’t waste your time. Don’t let the unimportant things get in the way of your happiness. You just never know when it will be too late.