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Bill Cook set to retire after 42 years

Bill Cook set to retire after 42 years

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Bill Cook set to retire after 42 years

Longtime teacher, coach, administrator calling it a career

West Memphis School District

There was little doubt what Bill Cook would choose for a career path in his early life.

He just couldn't get enough of school.

He loved every facet of it.

Enough so that he says he missed only one day of school from the sixth grade to the 12th grade.

That career choice served him extremely well the last 42 years as the current assistant superintendent for West Memphis Schools decides to hang it up and move on to retirement at the end of this week.

'I've always loved school and I always looked forward to being there,' said Cook, who has done just about all you can do in the school business.

Cook, a graduate of Rison High School and Henderson State University, is perhaps best known as a high school football coach, something he did from 1976-82 at Hughes and from 1983-96 at Marion.

Cook's move into the world of coaching came naturally after his athletic experiences as a youth.

'I always had real good high school coaches,' he said. 'They were a big influence on me growing up.' At Henderson Cook said he was recruited as a trainer for the Reddie teams.

'I say, trainer…that's what they called it back then,' Cook said. 'It was really more of a do-it-all position. I would move the field (sprinkler) at night. On away trips I was the guy who got to stay awake all night to make sure we stayed on the road and the driver didn't fall asleep. It was just an array of things.' Cook has been at West Memphis the last 20 years, teaching two years at Wonder

Junior High while getting his administration degree. He served as assistant principal at the high

school before taking over as athletic director until 2013 when he took over for the retiring Wesley Berry as the district's assistant superintendent in charge of finances.

'I'm going to miss it,' he stated. 'This is my social time. I enjoy being around people and talking shop.'

Cook's wife of 43 years, Janice, retired from teaching two years ago and the two have already bought a house in Columbia, S.C., where their daugter Erin and her family live.

'I always wanted to be an influence on my grandkids,' Cook added. 'I'll be able to do that full time now.'

He said he'll cherish the time he spent at West Memphis.

'Mr. (Bill) Kessinger made working here worthwhile,' Cook said of the former superintendent who died earlier this year. 'West Memphis has got good schools. Every school has some of the same problems. I don't know if people realize that or not. It's no different here than it is in Bentonville or Pine Bluff.

The three districts I've worked in have been real good to me and Janice.'

By Billy Woods

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