Que Pasa, Colleen?

Que Pasa, Colleen? is a labor of love and a tribute to its author, my mother, Nancy Cook. It is a story of love and all of its various and powerful forms and how love shapes our lives. The work is a series of short stories, following the residents of Colleen, TX through life’s adventures, trials, and tribulations. The characters are quirky, likeable, and real. The context varies from the sublime and poetic, to horrifying and sorrowful, and jubilant and silly. The main character, Maria Hernandez, is a powerful woman forced to do whatever it takes to support her family after being abandoned by her “American Dream” seeking husband. Her guilt and shame ensuing, and her eventual salvation aided by a kindhearted priest. The story also highlights her 4 children as they experience their share of life’s challenges and rejoice in life’s wonders. The Hernandez family (an Hispanic working class immigrant family) is linked to the Brockway family (a middle class Caucasian family) by Maria’s years of loyal service as their “domestic,” thus intertwining their 2 worlds. Sprinkled in are other various colorful characters peppering the landscape of Colleen and creating rich body and colorful flair – and a few great recipes, too!

Que Pasa, Colleen? is a labor of love and a tribute to its author, my mother, Nancy Cook. It is a story of love and all of its various and powerful forms and how love shapes our lives. The work is a series of short stories, following the residents of Colleen, TX through life’s adventures, trials, and tribulations. The characters are quirky, likeable, and real. The context varies from the sublime and poetic, to horrifying and sorrowful, and jubilant and silly. The main character, Maria Hernandez, is a powerful woman forced to do whatever it takes to support her family after being abandoned by her “American Dream” seeking husband. Her guilt and shame ensuing, and her eventual salvation aided by a kindhearted priest. The story also highlights her 4 children as they experience their share of life’s challenges and rejoice in life’s wonders. The Hernandez family (an Hispanic working class immigrant family) is linked to the Brockway family (a middle class Caucasian family) by Maria’s years of loyal service as their “domestic,” thus intertwining their 2 worlds. Sprinkled in are other various colorful characters peppering the landscape of Colleen and creating rich body and colorful flair – and a few great recipes, too!

Nancy Ann Cook July 18, 1939 – May 8, 2014 Nancy Ann Cook grew up on a farm in Kansas with her mother, father, and three younger sisters: Cyndie, Catharine, and Candace. They moved to Oklahoma when she was in middle-school, and she graduated from Waynoka High School. She lived in Oklahoma until the time of her death except for a couple of years in the early 1960’s when she lived in South Texas while her husband was stationed there in the Army. She began nursing school at the age of seventeen, and then practiced nursing and worked as a Professor of Nursing for over fifty years. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha, OK. She continued her education at Wichita State University, earning a MS in Nursing. She wrote her master’s thesis on widowhood, interviewing hundreds of widows of varied ages about their experiences. This interest, fed into her specializing in psychiatric and hospice nursing. This expertise is reflected in the book through the genuine fondness, depth of understanding, and caring she obviously feels towards the characters in the stories. She began her official career as a Professor of Nursing at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma, then transferred to Oklahoma Community College in Oklahoma City, where she remained for thirty years. Throughout her nursing education career, she impacted hundreds of students’ lives which carried over to impact thousands of patients’ lives. Additionally, she worked part-time as a hospice nurse, as this was her true passion. She helped people, their families, and loved ones navigate the “transition out of the body” and on to better places with intense passion and compassion. Her strong spiritual beliefs aided in her in this work. Nancy Cook was married for twenty-one years and became the mother of three children: Mark, Kimberly, and Amy. She adored being a mother, and she told hundreds of stories and sang all types of songs to her children. As a mother, her need to educate was apparent. In addition to performing routine household chores, she required her children to read assigned chapters of various nutrition, human anatomy/physiology, and religious books before being granted their weekly allowance! Later, she delighted in being a grandmother to Ryan and Rachel, Kimberly’s children. Her grandchildren fondly referred to her as “Mudgie.” She began writing stories for her grandchildren in their early years and thus began her journey into writing. She was the embodiment of that quintessential Grandmother, whose lap a child would crawl into and say, “Mudgie, tell me a story.” And she would! She fostered imagination and play in her children and grandchildren, relishing their mischief and orneriness as a sign of intelligence and creativity. Nancy was also an earnest epicurean. She cooked food from many cultures, including Japanese, German, Italian, Mexican, Hawaiian, and “down-home” Southern. A few of her classic recipes are included in this book. Later in life, her best times were spent with her large circle of dear and supportive friends and family, enjoying simple pleasures such as films, books, great conversation, good food, and writing. She passed away in a hospice house on May 8, 2014.