CAROLYN COOK BOOKOUT
1922-2020
Carolyn Cook Bookout, wife of John F. Bookout Jr., devoted mother, and longtime resident of Houston, passed away peacefully on Sunday morning, August 30, 2020. She was one of five children, born in Jackson, Louisiana, to educators John Byron and Mary Gallent Cook.
She graduated from college in Louisiana, where she enjoyed studying history and being on the debate team. Upon graduation, Carolyn worked during World War II in the Civilian Personnel Branch at Camp Polk (Fort Polk) in Louisiana. After the war, she married her husband who had served in the U.S. Army Airforce.
Throughout their seventythree years of marriage, they traveled the world extensively and hosted notable figures, heads of state, and royalty.
She greatly enjoyed living in several U.S. cities as well as their time in Toronto and abroad in The Hague. In the 1960’s, while living in
New Orleans, she served as an officer of the Leukemia Society, supported the New Orleans Symphony, and co-hosted receptions for the 1984 ‘Sun King’ Exhibition in The Cabildo-Louisiana State Museum and in The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Carolyn and John made Houston their home in the mid 1970’s, after he became President and Chief Executive Officer of Shell Oil Company. During her years in Houston, she was an active member of the Houston chapter of Northwood University’s National Women’s Board, a member of the Bayou Bend Advisory Committee, an Advisory Trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, a patron of the Junior League, a president of the River Oaks Rose Club, a member of DAR, and a longtime member of the First Presbyterian Church. She took part in the Economic Mission to the Far East both in 1979 and in 1983, and she was complemented by Houston’s mayor for her superb contributions.
Carolyn received the Northwood Institute’s Distinguished Women’s Award in 1988. Along with her husband, they received the 1982 People of Vision Award by the Texas Society for the Prevention of Blindness and were named the 1984 Cultural Leader of the Year, sponsored by the Houston Youth Symphony. In 2005, they established the John F., Jr and Carolyn Bookout Distinguished Endowed Chair, Department of Surgery at The Houston Methodist Hospital.
She led a life that complemented her many and varied interests. She created a lovely home for her family, collected antiques and decorative arts in London, played bridge with her friends, visited the Scottish Highlands of her ancestors and took foreign trips around the world.
Carolyn is survived by her devoted husband John, her three children; Beverly C. Bookout, John F. Bookout
III (Ann), and Adair B. Stevenson (Craig, Jr.); her grandchildren Caroline K. Mitchell (Justin), Roland T. von Kurnatowski III, John F. Bookout IV (Ellen), James H. Bookout (Ellen), Katherine B. Booth (William), Craig H. Stevenson III, and Ashley B. Stevenson; and her great-grandchildren Luke T. Mitchell, Sophie-Anne Mitchell, and John-Andrew Mitchell; William H. Booth; and Frances C. Bookout.
Carolyn possessed grace, charm, strength of character, and an abiding Christian faith. She will be deeply missed.
She was laid to rest at Glenwood Cemetery following a private service on September 3, 2020. Memorial donations may be made to the charity of your choice in memory of Carolyn.