Mary Cook, stylish 'firecracker'

MARY ELIZABETH Cook had a lifelong passion for stylish dress.

So, it was natural for her at an early age to start making her living by sewing.

"I loved to dress up, and in the '40s, nice clothes and shoes cost money," she was quoted as saying in a memoir written by her niece Connie Little.

Following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, Mary went to work in the textile industry in Philadelphia, working her way up from presser.

She retired in 1986 from the Albert Nipon Co., a prominent clothing designer and manufacturer in Philadelphia.

Mary Elizabeth Cook, a former member of the Ladies Garment Workers Union who had no children of her own but was devoted to her many nieces, nephews and cousins, died Oct. 4. She was 87 and lived in the Hillcrest Nursing Center, in Wyncote, and formerly lived in the Sartain Apartments, in Strawberry Mansion.

"I loved being everybody's 'Aunt Liz,' " her niece quoted her as saying. She quoted her further:

"That 85th birthday party was the best thing that ever happened. I had never had a birthday party before so it was a special moment in my life.

"It was special because I had moved to a new home - Hillcrest Nursing Center. Boy, were those people shocked to see all my family and old friends from Sartain Apartments.

"My new friends felt some kind of way, you know, kind of made me a celebrity there after that."

Mary Elizabeth was born in Washington, N.C., to Lettice Wilson Little and Simon Little. She grew up on a farm working fields of tobacco, cotton and such vegetables as collard greens.

"Yes, I was born in the good old South," she had said, "on a farm where everything we ate, we grew."

She got her early education in North Carolina and was baptized at a young age at Triumph Baptist Church, in Washington, N.C.

She came to Philadelphia and graduated from William Penn High School for Girls.

About working for Albert Nipon, she said, "So you know I kept up with the fashions and remained stylish, and stylish I was! I continued to sew, making my own clothing and sewing for some of you."

Mary Elizabeth met and married the late John Cook. Although they divorced, they remained friends.

They were fellow members of Childs Memorial Baptist Church and lived at 18th Street and Susquehanna Avenue. She later joined Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Mary was an avid baseball fan, who followed the Phillies but had a soft spot in her heart for the Dodgers, whom she rooted for when they were in Brooklyn.

"She continued to root for them when they moved to Los Angeles, but it wasn't the same," said niece Connie Little, a city undersheriff who was an executive assistant to former Mayor John F. Street.

Connie recalled going to Connie Mack Stadium with her aunt to watch the Phillies. "I didn't care for baseball," she said. "I went for the peanuts and hot dogs."

Her aunt continued to follow the Phillies when they moved to other venues.

"She knew batting averages and everything," Connie said. "She was really a fan."

One of the highlights of Mary's life was the annual trek back to North Carolina the third Sunday of every August to attend a two-day homecoming celebration featuring food, dancing and other festivities along with worship.

"She looked forward to that every year," Connie Little said.

Mary was also a big fan of Nat "King" Cole, and was a standout pinochle player. "I thought I was pretty good," she was quoted as saying, "but I got caught cheating a few times."

Her grandnephew Devon M. Allen called her a "firecracker."

"She did have a fiery personality," Connie Little said.

Services: Were Saturday. Burial was in Northwood Cemetery, 15th and Haines streets.