A Tribute to A Lived Life

On Thanksgiving Day November 27, 2025, Lily Cecelia (Hardaker) Cook (95) passed peacefully after a two-year infliction of dementia at the Gary Home Memory Care in Montpelier, Vermont.

Lily was born on May 31, 1930, in Northfield, Vt, the daughter of wonderful parents, her words, Joe and June (Dunsmoor) Hardaker. She grew up on a farm on Mill Hill during the great depression instilling the value of hard work and her determined independent character (spirit) Growing up on the farm where all her siblings were given individual chores. She remembers getting up early in the morning helping to milk the cows with her mother June then having to wash herself in a wash tub filled with water that had been heated on a wood stove before heading off to school. Her immediate family consisted of four sisters (Vera, Betty, Evelyn and Beverly) and two brothers (Arthur (known as Eddie) and Robert.

She would share stories with us of how she would take off on summer mornings with a horse and hay rake across meadows and backroads to remote fields and spend the day gathering hay for the farm, often by herself. The family owned two horses, Major and Lady, who worked ploughing the garden, harvesting hay or pulling a pug sleigh full of wood for winter heating.

Each Saturday the siblings would take turns going into town with their dad to the local IGA store for weekly grocery shopping trips which entailed a 5-mile walk down Mill Hill. Before the return uphill trip back to the farm with full grain and flour sacks, a special treat was going to the Savoy Theater to watch an afternoon matinee.

Even though times were tough during her childhood, her siblings and she never felt deprived or lacking as living on the farm provided sufficient food and her mother made their clothing from patterned grain bags or whole cloth. Childhood recreation with her siblings and the neighbor kids included walking and exploring the meadows and woods playing hide n seek, ball games, hopscotch and sledding down Mill Hill in winter. Usually on Saturday nights if they were not attending a local dance or event, as a family they would play pinocle while eating popcorn, purple grapes and drinking lemonade.

As a young girl, Lily participated in the local 4-H chapter lead by Esther Dillingham where they learned about dairy farming, growing crops, canning and sewing, how to crochet, painting and other handicrafts. She had a fondness for flowers and gardening with tulips being a favorite especially lilac ones as purple was her favorite color. Her favorite books to read in childhood were the Bobbsey Twins and favorite singer was Patsy Cline. Our mother was good cook, making homemade casseroles, baked beans and lasagna, homemade rolls and biscuits and a variety of pies and cakes. She could pull together quickly a meal from whatever she had on hand even on short notice if company showed up unexpectedly.

It was at a dance where Lily met her future husband Dick Cook. They were married on September 1, 1956, on the lawn of the family farm under a wooden arch made by her brothers. She remembers her mother ordered her wedding dress through Sears and Roebuck and made her wedding cake as well. It was this frugality of early life experiences of farm life that served her well in the thoughtful and practical management of the family budget as a parent of six children on a working-class income.

Lily and Dick were married for 68 years and lived at various homes in East Granville, Roxbury and Northfield until Dick's passing in 2017. The down-to-earth couple raised a family of six children and taught them the values of hard work (by assigning chores like gardening, prepping meals, piling wood and baby-sitting), teaching home crafts and outdoor sports (hunting and fishing) caring for each other and joy of family. Family gatherings could be quite large when you considered between her two brothers, and four sisters produced a Hardaker brood of 25 cousins. Food was plentiful to feed up to 40-50 people consisting of salads and casseroles, a variety of meats (ham, barbecued chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs) and desserts all handmade by the sisters and sisters-in-law. These family gatherings were chaotic, full of laughter and good fun-poking humor with each other, the cousins would split up to play games or cards, share gossip and happenings in their lives and being mischievous before settling down to eat from the buffet of food. One annual event our family participated in was a meet-up at the Tunbridge Fair with Lily's sister, Betty and husband Alvin, who had a campsite at the fairgrounds for that annual Central Vermont event.

As a thrifty mother she hand-sewed a portion of her children's clothes especially in our younger growth years from patterns as her own mother had during her own childhood. We remember the seasonal trips to Harry's in Barre, Vt to buy new clothing for the start of the school year, Christmas or start of spring and summer. Lily was a seamstress during her working life working at several clothing factories in Central Vermont including Van Raalt, Rabbit Hollow Knitting and Merrimaids. She retired at age 66 from Merrimaids where she had worked for 26 years and developed many long-standing friendships with other woman who worked there.

In retirement Lily worked part-time in the kitchen at Randolph Union High School for several years. They retired to 144 Wall St. senior housing in Northfield, Vt. where they made new friends and re-acquainted themselves with friends from childhood. She and Dick would spend some winters in southwest Florida (Tampa Bay area) to be close to her brother Robert and a break from Vermont's cold. She enjoyed reading romance novels, doing crossword puzzles and word find matrixes, watching some TV shows (comedies were a favorite) and kept up to date with local news by reading the local newspapers and visiting friends and family. A woman well skilled in crochet, knitting and counted cross stich Lily made hand-crafted gifts for family and friends as Christmas, birthday and special events, gifts which were well appreciated and received by the recipient.

During their retirement years Lily and Dick enjoyed a close relationship with their grandson Jeremy Reed and his wife Mary Catherine who lovingly cared for them, sharing gardening and homesteading chores at Jeremy's home in Northfield. After Dick's death in 2017 Jeremy and Mary and her mother, Cherie would drive Lily to her medical appointments and shopping trips for groceries and home goods or just for a lunch at a local restaurant. Mary and Lily shared a close and loving relationship, especially during a summer vacation to North Carolina in the summer of 2018 when they made a leisurely bonding trip south for a meetup with Lily's two daughters, Robin and Patsy where they had a wonderful time exploring the North Carolina region where Robin lived.

Lily was the last of her immediate family living at the time of her death as she was pre-deceased by her parents Joe and June, four sisters and two brothers. She also was pre-deceased by her husband Dick and two daughters Rae Marie and Robin. She was pre-deceased by her son in-law Peter Reed and daughter in-law Ann Cook (Lumbra).

She is survived by her son Michael and his wife Lauren (Lipsett) of Jericho, son Timothy Cook of Randolph and Lonnie Cook of Winooski and daughter Patsy Adams of Louisville, Kentucky. She will be fondly missed by her grandchildren Elizabeth (Cook) and husband Jeff Dohlon of Ridgefield, Ct, Nicholas Cook of Brookline, Mass, Jeremy Reed and wife Mary Catherine (Bean) of Northfield, Vt and Alice (Reed) and husband Robert Owens and a great-grandchild Phoebe of Rehoboth, Mass. Also, two step-grandchildren, Daisy and Justin and step-great granddaughter Serenity Taylor.

The family appreciates the compassionate respect and dedicated care Lily received by the staff of Gary Home Memory Care in Montpelier as her health diminished and the previous care she received at the Four Seasons Care Home in Northfield, Vermont.

A graveside memorial and burial will take place in the spring of 2026 at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph Center, Vt alongside her late husband Dick Cook. This beautiful hillside cemetery and surrounding view is an appropriate final resting place as it is reminiscent of the Mill Hill farm of her childhood in Northfield.

Memorial service arrangements will be handled by the Kingston Funeral Home in Northfield, Vt. In lieu of flowers contributions in memory of Lily can be made to: The Gary Residence Memory Care at 149 main St. Montpelier, Vt. or to the Northfield Senior Center at 168 Wall Street, Northfield, VT.

Lily's dedication to family and children was exhibited by her joy during the holiday season when she decorated with delight, prepared plentiful holiday meals and desserts and presented the gifts she had been stocking up and hiding for months in preparation for Christmas. (Sometimes her children found her hidden cache of gifts before Christmas) Ironically our mother passed on Thanksgiving Day, which I suspect her spirit blessed many of her family's Thanksgiving dinner on her way to heaven bringing a proud smile to her face.

Wishing you Heavenly Peace Mom, Heavenly Peace!