John Cooksey was born in Albany, September 8, 1887. He was the third child in a family of three sisters and four brothers.
With the death of his father when he was a child, Cooksey took on the responsibility of providing for his mother. This meant very little school and hard work, so education became less important to Cooksey. He never went beyond the second or third-grade school level.
Cooksey found work any way he could. Though he cut timber, his main line of work was on the farm, and he eventually owned one. His first farm was in the Indian Creek area. It had to be abandoned when water from the dam ran them out. Cooksey, whose son said he didn’t have an enemy in the world, walked two to three miles to church every Sunday, had recently taken up singing with the chorus and always read his lessons for Sunday school.
Referred to as “Uncle” John by some in the community, Cooksey was known as a man who would be the first to go help his neighbors if ever they were in need. If people got sick, he would go work their crops. He often sat up all night with friends in need.
“It was a gift that he had that much strength to do that,” James said.
Cooksey had three children, Elizabeth, James and Johnny, who was killed during World War II on Saipan in the Pacific. James said his father brought his children up the right way.
“He wanted to do the right thing and always corrected us,” he said.
Cooksey taught his independence to his children in the hope that they might pass it on down to generations to come. Cooksey, who could usually be found working in his garden every day, lived the last 40 years of his life in a little house next to his son, James, and his daughter-in-law Vida. He was independent to the end.
