Franklin Edward Cooke

March 6, 1925 - November 29, 2018 Resident of San Jose

Franklin Cooke passed away peacefully at his home after a long illness at the age of 93 on November 29th. He leaves behind a daughter Marlene (Eric) Hexem, son Clayton Cooke, grandchildren Brian and Erin Hexem, Danielle and Stephen Carattini-Cooke, and 2 great-grandchildren Trevor and Tyler Hexem. His beloved wife Juanita predeceased him in 2013.

Franklin was born in Chelsea Mass. At the age of 17 he joined the US Naval Submarine Service, serving during WWII in the South Pacific. At the end of the war, he married Juanita Cornelius and went on to earn his Mechanical Engineering degree at SMU in Dallas Tx.

Subsequently he went to work for General Electric in Schenectady NY, then transferred in 1955 to the Nuclear Energy Division in San Jose CA where he worked in reactor design for 46 years before retiring.

Always one to be active, he spent his leisure time tinkering with cars, traveling on road trips in their RV, skindiving, windsurfing, hang-gliding (although not for long!), golfing and shooting. He belonged to numerous groups including the Gadabouts square dance group, the San Jose Flipper Dippers (skindiving), the G.E. ELFUN Society, Pedalera cycling group, and Sons in Retirement (SIRS). He was a fixture at his local gym, the Right Stuff, and the Campbell Senior Center in his later years.

He will be missed very much.

Services will be held Monday, December 17th at 1:00 PM at the Campbell United Methodist Church, 1675 S. Winchester Blvd., followed at 3:00 PM by an Honor Guard ceremony at Los Gatos Memorial Park, 2255 Los Gatos Almaden Rd., San Jose. In lieu of flowers, donations to the United Methodist Church or charity of your choice is preferred.