Vernon Cook

Profile Updated: June 2, 2019
Residing In: Mt Vernon, WA USA
Spouse/Partner: Gloria
Occupation: Retired
Children: Ryan, born 1973. He is a veterinarian
Monique, born 1975
David, born 1977
Maya, born 2001
Military Service: Army, Air Force  
Comments:

I was drafted at the end of the Vietnam war and spent 4 years on active duty and two years in the Utah National Guard. After getting out of the military I got a BA and MA in Spanish from the University of Utah. I was thinking about a PhD until I decided that the pay wasn't all that good and switched to electrical engineering. After graduation I got a job with the Central Intelligence Agency. (I can say that now that I'm retired.) I wasn't involved in all the espionage stuff though. My job was keeping their computers up and running. Whenever there was a problem that the local technicians couldn't solve or new hardware and software to install, I had to get on a plane and go take care of it. Needless to say, I did a lot of traveling. I've been to at least 85 different countries. I have also lived on four of the seven continents: North America, South America, Europe and Asia. I lived in Argentina for two years, Paraguay for six, Germany for three and Japan for three. All were wonderful experiences. My favorite countries are Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Thailand, Egypt and Austria, among others. I am fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and German and I can get by in Serbian and Croatian. I also speak a bit of Japanese. Needless to say, I love traveling and learning new languages. I play classical guitar and hold a pilots license. Last year I ticked off one of my bucket list items and flew my plane over the Grand Canyon with my brother.

I am married to my wonderful wife, Gloria, who is from Paraguay. We have a 17 year-old daughter who is graduating from high school this year, exactly fifty years after me.

I also have two sons and a daughter from my first marriage and 4 grandchildren. My oldest son is a veterinarian working in Stanwood, Washington. I'm the only black sheep of the family who lives outside the state. I currently reside in Mount Vernon, Washington.

I am keeping myself busy after retirement by teaching an aviation course at the local high school. It's the ideal part time job - an hour and a half every other day. I am also doing a lot of translation work for a German author friend of mine, Thomas Thiemeyer, who writes science fiction/fantasy books. I just finished translating three of his books that will be published in English this fall.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion next month.

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Posted on: Feb 04, 2021 at 2:33 AM

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Mar 28, 2020 at 8:41 AM
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Oct 09, 2019 at 1:27 PM

Posted on: Oct 09, 2019 at 1:27 PM

Vernon Cook has left an In Memory comment for Tim Winget.
Sep 13, 2019 at 2:33 PM

Tim and I were very good friends when we were in middle school. We even got our biking merit badges together. Unfortunately, sort of went our separate ways when we got into high school. I have a lot of fond memories of the times we spent together as kids and am sorry to hear that he has passed away.

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Jun 02, 2019 at 8:46 AM
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Jun 02, 2019 at 7:36 PM

Posted on: Jun 02, 2019 at 8:18 AM

Nice to get your updates. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion next month.

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May 07, 2019 at 5:50 PM

Posted on: May 07, 2019 at 8:23 AM

Sounds like you've done quite a bit of traveling. That's great. Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. See you at the reunion.

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Mar 06, 2019 at 8:49 AM
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Feb 13, 2019 at 11:57 AM

Posted on: Feb 11, 2019 at 1:41 PM

I'm really looking forward to the reunion. I renewed so many friendships and even got some new ones at the forty-year reunion and I'm so glad they've kept this web site up and running.

I've just had something exciting happen that I thought I would share here. In previous posts, I commented that I had been doing translation work for a German author friend of mine, mostly just to keep up on my rather poor German. Things started looking up just last month though. I got an email from my friend, Thomas Thiemeye, who has long wanted to break into the English-speaking book market, telling me that he had signed a contract with Bookwire.com to publish his first three books both in printed and E-book form. Sadly, of the twelve books I had already translated for him, his first three were not among them. Needless to say, he asked me to translate them for him and I've been busy doing that ever since. I've already finished the first two and am about halfway through the third. All three will be published this year in the September time frame. If you like sci-fi thrillers, look for them. The titles are Medusa, Reptilia and Magma. After all my work, I'm actually going to get paid for my work. Nice. I'm excited.

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Feb 04, 2019 at 2:33 AM
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Jul 30, 2018 at 8:58 AM

Posted on: Jul 29, 2018 at 11:56 AM

I decided that I had better update my profile for the upcoming 50th reunion. It's hard to believe that so much time has passed already. Old age really creeps up on you quickly, doesn't it?

I retired from the CIA about four years ago and moved to Paraguay with my family. Paraguay is where my wife is from and where I spent four years stationed at the US Embassy there from 1990 to 1994. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out the way we had hoped there so we moved back to the States two years ago. We are currently living in Mount Vernon, Washington, about an hour and a half north of Seattle.

Retirement is not what it is cracked up to be and I found I was getting bored rather quickly so I've found some things to keep me busy. The first thing I did was to buy myself a Cessna 172 Skyhawk II airplane. I got my license as a graduation gift for myself back in 1989 and have been flying off and on ever since. Renting is expensive though so I decided to own - not that that's not expensive too, but it's more affordable. This year I crossed one of the items off my bucket list: overfly the Grand Canyon in a small plane. In June of this year, I flew from Seattle to Salt Lake and then on to Page, Arizona, after which I flew my plane over the Grand Canyon and back with my little brother. It was every bit as fantastic as I hoped it would be.

Shortly after getting back from that, my daughter and I took off for two weeks in Greece, Athens and Santorini. I had previously been in Greece three times, but it was always for business and I had never had the chance to get out of the Athens area, so this was a great opportunity. Santorini is every bit as beautiful as you see in the travel brochures.

Another thing I'm doing to keep myself busy is I started teaching an Aviation Course at the local high school. I am not a certified teacher so I shouldn't even have been able to do that, but they school district was desperate. Their aviation teacher found another job and quite, which left them high and dry. They made an exception in my case because I am a pilot and I have the knowledge and expertise they needed. They gave me what they call an 'emergency teaching certificate' which allows me to teach. To tell the truth, it's the ideal part-time job. I teach an hour and a half every other day and I get full dental and vision insurance along with it. And what's even better is that I don't have to go to any faculty meetings. And besides that, it has been fun teaching high school kids about the joys of flying.

I have also been doing a considerable amount of translation work. I became friends with Thomas Thiemeyer, a well-known German thriller and sci-fi author while I was in Germany. I had begun reading his books as a way to help me learn German, but after becoming friends, I also began to translate some of his works into English. So far, I have translated twelve of his books into English and I am starting on the thirteenth. Thiemeyer is trying to break into the English-speaking market, something that is not an easy thing to do. The book I am currently working on was his first. It is called "Medusa." He has just finished revising it for a second edition publication in Germany and together with that, he will be publishing it as an E-book on Amazon. With a little luck, we will be able to get some of the other books I already translated ready for publication. I started doing the translations mainly to help me keep up on my German, but now it's looking like they might actually get published. It has been a lot of fun and a lot of work and I have really enjoyed getting to know the author.

We spent nearly two years in Paraguay before deciding to move back to the States. During that time I taught physics and Portuguese at an international high school there. That was definitely an interesting experience. The school had a varied mix of students ranging from local Paraguayans to children of foreign diplomats and businessmen who were living in the country. Many of the locals came from very wealthy families, which made for some very interesting students. Some were very hard-working, while others pretty much thought that their daddies would be buying them everything they need in life, including their careers, so they didn't have to lift a finger.

Well, can't think of much more to say right now so I'm going to quit. I am really looking forward to seeing all of you again at the reunion.

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Jul 29, 2018 at 11:25 AM
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Jul 30, 2018 at 9:35 AM

Posted on: Jul 29, 2018 at 11:23 AM

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Jul 10, 2018 at 2:49 PM

Posted on: Jul 08, 2018 at 11:40 AM

I just crossed one of my bucket list items off my list: Overfly the Grand Canyon in a small plane. Ever since I got my pilot's certificate back in 1989, one of my dreams has been to fly over the Grand Canyon in a small plane. Just last week I was finally able to do it. Together with my younger brother, Darrel, we flew from Salt Lake to Page, Arizona where we spent two nights. From Page we flew down through the Zuni Corridor and back up through the Dragon Corridor over the Grand Canyon. Flights over the Grand Canyon are strictly controlled so as to not disturb the tranquility of the park. Therefore, you have to fly through specified corridors and at specified altitudes. The flight was everything I had dreamed of and I thoroughly enjoyed. I got a little bonding time with my brother too. The entire trip took 1.9 hours from Page. Parts of the attached video have been sped up to 7 times normal speed to make it a little shorter. I've also attached a few pictures, some of which are of Antelope Canyon just outside Page. I did the flight in my 1977 Cessna 172 Skyhawk II.

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May 17, 2018 at 8:26 AM
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Posted: Mar 08, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Posted: Mar 09, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Family trip to Egypt last year. My wife Gloria and my daughter Maya.
Posted: Mar 09, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Victoria Falls in Zambia - The widest in the world.
Posted: Mar 09, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Angkor Watt, Cambodia
Posted: Mar 09, 2014 at 10:00 PM
My wife and I in Okinawa, Japan
Posted: Mar 09, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Me at James Bond Island, Pang Nga Bay, Thailand (from the film The Man With The Golden Gun)
Posted: Mar 09, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Me in front of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.
Posted: Mar 09, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Me at the controls of a brand new Gulf Stream 5 corporate jet. I have a pilots license, but only for single engine prop planes. This was on one of my trips to Thailand where I got the chance to sit up in the cockpit.
Posted: Mar 09, 2014 at 10:00 PM
My daughter, Maya, and I in front of our apartment in Frankfurt, Germany
Posted: Mar 09, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Wife and daughter at St. Peters in Rome.