News, Citizen Profile, Mildred Cole Crooks, LaSalle Parish, La.




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Submitted by: Craig Franklin of The Jena Times, Jena, LaSalle Parish, La.

Mildred Cole Crooks - Citizen Profile  

Wednesday, February 14, 2001, page 1B

A Times-Signal Feature "Citizen Profile" A Very Special Salute

Belah woman remembered as a good teacher, good mother

This week's Citizen Profile has gone to the same church for over 50 years,
lived in the same house for over 50 years, and was married to the same man for
over 50 years. It would appear that she is definitely a creature of habit, but
this 85 year-old Belah woman says it's just a matter of keeping commitments
and doing what she loves.

Mrs. Mildred Cole Crooks, who will celebrate her 86th birthday November 9, is
best known in LaSalle Parish for the some 24 years she spent teaching, mostly
at Fellowship Elementary School.

"There are still many of her former students around and we'll see them
occasionally when we're out," said Mrs. Margaret Jones, Mrs. Crooks' oldest
child. "She taught a lot of people during her years at Fellowship, including
two of her  three children and two of her grandchildren."

And while she loved her job as a teacher, she candidly admits that there is no
way she'd jump back into the profession today.

"I don't know if I would go back to teaching now because of the way they
(children) act," Mrs. Crooks said. "Teachers today can't do anything with
them. Back when I was teaching, if they cut-up, I would paddle them and then
they'd get it again when they got home. Not anymore."

Mrs. Crooks was born in 1915 in Winnfield, to C.B. Cole and Anna Lou Pace
Cole. Mr. Cole operated a dry good store in Winnfield for years, until he went
out of business and started working for the Town of Winnfield.

The Cole's had three boys and three girls, although one of the girls died when
she was six years old from a sickness. While most families during the 20's and
30's moved many times, the Cole's were an exception.

Mr. Cole's stable job with his store and then with the town, meant a stable
lifestyle for the family. All of the children attended Winnfield High School,
where Mrs. Crooks graduated from in 1932.

She then went straight to Normal State College at Natchitoches, now
Northwestern State University, where she attended for two and one-half years.

Half-way through her third year at Normal, she was asked to take a teaching
job at Wheeling, which is located in Winn Parish, between Winnfield and
Montgomery.

She would teach at the small school for two and one-half years, until she met
the man of her dreams and got married.

"A friend brought him over to the house and introduced us, kind-of like a
double date," Mrs. Crooks said. "That was in August of 1936 and we were
married the following January. We didn't date very long, both of us knew it
was love at first sight."

Mrs. Crooks was 21 years old at the time, and Mr. Crooks was just 4 months her
senior."It's really pretty different than most during that time," she said.
"Most girls were getting married when they were 15 and 16 years old. I don't
know why I waited so long, other than I never met the one for me until he came
along."

Although Mrs. Crooks waiting a bit longer than most to get married, she wasted
no time in starting their family. Just a little over nine months from the time
they were married, she gave birth to the couple's first child, Margaret, who
was born in November of 1937.

At the time, Mr. Crooks was working for Jimmy Kennedy, driving a truck on his
distribution route. They lived in Winnfield for about three years, when they
moved to Trout.

They stayed in Trout for another three years, before moving back to Winnfield
and then to Belah. While living in Belah, Mr. Crooks worked for Hunt Oil
Company and Mrs. Crooks once again started teaching.

"At that time, they didn't have a teacher for the third and fourth grade class
(at Fellowship)," she said. "So they asked me if I would teach and I agreed.
Back then, the third and fourth graders were all in one class."

After just three years in Belah, Mr. Crooks moved his family again back to
Winnfield, where he again went to work for Jimmy Kennedy, this time working at
one of his service stations. They stayed in Winnfield for about two years, and
then it was back to Belah around 1950, and they would never leave again.

During all of this time, two more children were born into the Crooks
household, Charles and then the youngest, Clyde.

Mr. Crooks again worked for Hunt and Mrs. Crooks started teaching again at
Fellowship, this time teaching the fifth and sixth grade class. After two
years, the long-time first grade teacher retired, and the spot was offered to
Mrs. Crooks, which she gladly accepted.

"When we moved back to Belah the last time, we moved into the old teachers'
cottage by the school," Mrs. Crooks said. "We fixed it up, put indoor plumbing
in it, and lived there for about five years."

In 1955, the Crooks built a new home, the same home in which Mrs. Crooks still
resides at today. It is located just a short distance from the school, and
although there have been improvements and modifications made since it was
built, it is relatively the same as in 1955.

She said that she really enjoyed teaching, even though when she first began
she didn't have a clue as to what to do.

"I really didn't know how to teach or how I was going to do it," she said,
remembering back to when she first started. "But you know, it just came to me
real nice."

Mrs. Crooks was a natural. It was as if her purpose in life was to be the one
to instruct children on their basic educational needs. She stayed in the lower
grades, preferring the first grade out of all the grades she taught. She
remembers that she really never had any trouble from any of her students.

"They acted real nice because they knew their parents would paddle them at
home if they got paddled at school," she said. "When I quit teaching school,
that's when they stopped paddling."

And that's one of the reasons Mrs. Crooks says she wouldn't even think about
going back into teaching. The world, teaching, and the students are altogether
different than when she was in the educational system.

"I think that mothers and daddies are responsible for the way things have
turned out," she said. "If the parents were as strict as they used to be, the
children would be a lot better. Years ago, my children, or anybody else's,
knew that they had to behave or else there would be consequences. But that's
not the case today."

Mrs. Crooks also remembers that during that era, visiting with family and
friends was a top priority, not only for her family, but for everyone.

"We would go to different people's houses and sing, visit and just have a good
time," she said. "Many times we'd go home with different ones to eat dinner
after church, and then many times we'd have different one come home with us to
have dinner. It was just a way of life."

But today, Mrs. Crooks said, people are just too busy.

"Back then, we didn't have TV to watch, so the thing to do was go to people's
houses and visit," she recalled. "When we first moved down here, all we had
was a radio, but people would come over and we'd all gather around it and
listen."

She remembered one older couple from Trout that would come over to her house
nearly every Saturday night just to listen to the radio. Many times the couple
would stay until midnight, before driving back to their home.

"This was just a way of life back then," she said. "My children never went
anywhere either, except to spend the night with different ones. They didn't go
very much until they got ready to get married."

One of the main places the Crooks' family would go would be church. In 1950,
when the family moved back to Belah for the final time, they joined Fellowship
Baptist Church.

"I grew up in a Christian home and mother always taught us to go to church,"
she said. "When I got down here, we just had to go to church. That's what Mama
put in my mind."

She is one of the elder members at Fellowship, now claiming over 50 years as a
member. Throughout the years, she has taught Sunday School and been very
active.

Mrs. Crooks started going to Fellowship when the church met in just an old
wood frame building. Later the church would build another wood frame building,
then bricks would be added, and then the current, large sanctuary was built
and later this was even added on to, which seats more people than was in the
Belah Community back when Mrs. Crooks first moved there.

"I have a lot of good friends at church," she said. "But here lately, we don't
visit like we used to. We do however, meet up twice a week and go walking. I'm
the oldest of the Senior Saints out there, and we have a fun time doing that."


In 1982, Mr. Crooks suffered a heart attack. During the next five years, Mrs.
Crooks concentrated on her husband and taking care of him.

In January of 1987, the couple celebrated their 50 wedding anniversary,
although Mr. Crooks was still struggling. Later that same year, in October,
Mr. Crooks quietly passed away in his sleep during the night.

"It was sad, but it wasn't all that hard," Mrs. Crooks said. "I really had
time to prepare myself for it since his heart attack five years earlier. We
had a long and good life together."

Since her retirement from teaching in 1972, Mrs. Crooks has taken time to
enjoy some of the things she didn't get too when she was busy teaching. One of
those main things she enjoys, but didn't have much time to do as a teacher, is
simply reading.

"I love to read, but you know, as a teacher, I didn't get to do much of it
because I was so busy with lesson plans and other things," she said. "But
since I've retired, I read all the time. Right now, I've got four books I'm
trying to read."

And there is no preference of topics for Mrs. Crooks. She'll read most
anything that has a good plot. From romance novels, to westerns, nothing is
off limits as long as the book in interesting.

"It's according to how it starts out," she said. "Sometimes I start reading
and don't enjoy it so I put it up. I can usually tell by the first few pages
whether or not I want to continue reading it."

Along with reading, she really enjoys spending time with her family, which now
includes seven grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great-
grandchild.

"She's been a good mother," Mrs. Margaret said. "I've never had any complaints
about her and she raised all of her children right and in a Christian home. In
fact, all of her family is still going to church."

Mrs. Crooks said that her life has been enjoyable, and thinking back, she
honestly can not think of one single regret.

"I don't think there is anything about my life that I would change," she said.

When it comes to what others think of her, Mrs. Crooks is quick to say that
she hopes people remember her for being a good mother, and for being a good
teacher.

And that is certainly no problem. She will definitely be remembered and
admired as one of the last old-time teachers, who took her job seriously and
really cared for her students.

This week, we salute Mrs. Mildred Crooks, for her life of commitment and
stability which is an example to us all.

(Caption under photo)
Mrs. Mildred Crooks, this week's Citizen Profile, has lived in the Belah
Community for over 50 years. She is best known as the first grade teacher at
Fellowship Elementary School until she retired in 1972, and for being an
exceptional mother. (See story.)