“Norm was 93 years young. He is now united with His Lord and Savior and reunited with his dear, sweet Muriel."
[These words] ...informed us about the passing of one of my heroes. I first met Norm Cook on the big screen. During college, in rural Oklahoma, I evangelized using the “Venture for Victory” movie. It is the story of a basketball team playing hoops for the gospel in Asia. He was one of the stars. Our president, Dr. Joe, recruited him to lead the missions department at Multnomah U. My hero became my teammate on the court. The two old guys played two-on-two against any willing students. They were younger, bigger, stronger and faster, but we had dead-eye Cook, the missionary version of Steph Curry, and we usually won.We connived to create a missions endowment to finance faculty for overseas ministry. “The Norm & Muriel Cook Missions Endowment” had a good ring to it. Norm’s life-long supporters sacrificed and God provided $150,000 for the endowment. Its earnings sent faculty, staff and students around the world. He was the epitome of “find a way, not an excuse.” He was unstoppable and marched to the music of the gospel on the global stage. He used anything, but especially sports, for a venue to share good news. The hardest job in the world is a missionary. The hardest working and most hard-core missionary that I ever knew was the man I called “Stormin’ Norman Cook”. His legacy lives on through the multitudes who are following in his footsteps. Meanwhile, Norm and Muriel are now continuing their love story walking hand in hand on golden streets . . . . as Norm keeps an eye out for a basketball court.
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| Norm & Muriel Cook strolling on the Multnomah Bible College campus |
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| Norm with his two daughters Shelly Cook Volkhardt and Milei Cook Yardley |
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