Joseph E. Cook
| Publication year | 1990 |
| Pages | 1276 |
| Citation | Vol. 19 No. 7 Pg. 1276 |
1990, July, Pg. 1276. JOSEPH E. COOK
James L. Treece, Englewood, is a partner of Treece and Bahr and a member of the CBA Awards Committee.
Joseph E. Cook was not only one of the greatest attorneys of Colorado, but was a most extraordinary person overall. His life is an example of the best of what America stands for. He devoted his life primarily to the youth of Colorado and to his own and other family life. He also was dedicated to justice and patriotism. A large park in southeast Denver was named for Joseph E. Cook, which is fitting because a park symbolizes youth, family and athletics. All of these things Joe Cook held dear.
Cook served for twenty years as a Denver District Court Judge. Amazingly, in all that time, he was never reversed by the Colorado Supreme Court. While many of the judges of the District Court disliked domestic relations, Cook spent half of his career on that bench. There, where bitterness is traditionally the rule, his puckish good humor, ready wit and quips and eternal grin allowed him to handle an incredible number of these cases---more than twice the number of his colleagues.
He spoke of his philosophy of handling kids in trouble:
Once, when required to sentence a young man, Cook said, "I have worked with young men, normal and abnormal for thirty-five years and I still hate to sentence a young man It's my toughest job."We can fill his leisure time with constructive recreational outlets. We can build more playgrounds and expand the general vocational and recreational facilities of the City, and staff them with well trained, sympathetic and understanding personnel. Let us remember too that the greatest hope for our young people lies in the examples of honesty and sincerity and courage and spirituality which we can give in our own lives.
Cook's family included his wife, Alice, an author of note; a son, lawyer Joe, Jr.; daughters Mary Alice Munger and Grace Bond; and, eventually, seven grandchildren. As a father, he gently handled his children by singing different tunes to correct for misconduct. In the presence of others, he merely would hum the ditty to make his point. Mary Alice says of her father, "It was fortunate for us that Dad was salaried. If he had been in private practice, he probably wouldn't have charged fees...
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