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Welcome Joy and Leroy!
Joy and Leroy Cook moved here from AZ in late February of this year to be closer to family and an east coast environment (Joy grew up in upstate NY and Leroy in Montana). The greatest joy of our life is having raised two wonderful sons who have married great women and given us three now adult grandchildren, one of whom is soon to be married. And we love our French Brittany, Hoover.
We are both retired. Leroy was a Navy Officer and helicopter pilot and served in one of the first helicopter detachments to land on small Navy ships not built to have helicopters on them. This occurred because of search and rescue needs during the Vietnam War.
We have lived in many places; before Leroy and I met, the Navy took him to Japan, Italy and finally Hawaii where we met. Throughout our journey together we have practiced our faith usually in an ELCA congregation. As with most folks, we too have had some significant challenges along the way, but our faith has sustained us. We were very pleased to find Grace Lutheran Church after first visiting several other options near our Fort Mill residence (Sun City Carolina Lakes).
Following Leroy's 20-year Navy career, he taught architectural drafting at a community college in Oregon where we lived for many years. Leroy also had his own private practice creating architectural plans for high end custom homes. His undergraduate degree was in shop and English literature...he was supposed to be a teacher, but the lure of the Navy won out. He enjoys golfing, working on various home projects, wine tasting, traveling and listening to easy listening and classical music.
Joy's career focused on healthcare administration, where she served several organizations as the chief executive. Her first love however has been music. She plays piano (only for herself) and her primary instrument has been her voice. For the past 25 years she has sung in large church choirs (one had 90 people on Sundays) and two auditioned community choirs that performed major classical and sacred works. Joy immediately recognized the talent of Dr. Mims and members of the choir at Grace and is already a part of the choir here. She enjoys home decorating, entertaining, wine tasting, golf and of course music.
Both Joy and Leroy wish they could travel more. To date, they have visited Italy, France, Spain, Morocco and the Caribbean. Leroy traced his family lineage by going to Sweden and Norway, while Joy and her Mom traveled to Amsterdam, Holland, Prague and Austria.
Leroy hopes to help the church through work with the property committee. Joy will learn more about the food pantry and other community needs. Both Leroy and Joy noted they appreciate the warm welcome they received when they first visited Grace and look forward to learning more about this community of fellow Christians.
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