My Dad wasn't perfect, yet he was the best father I could have ever hoped for. I was naive to the problems he endured, which at times tried my patience, but now I see that he possessed an inner strength that keep him from giving up and a true heart that would never stop loving his family.

My father suffered from chronic pain from a work incident during the last years of his life, and though this should have kept him from doing much on his own, he still found the strength to get up every day and do what he could to move on with his life.

He never stopped learning and always had time to help others, even when he was the one who deserved help.

His persistence inspired my sister and I to do the best we could in school, and I chose to pursue a career in medicine, hoping someday to help people like him whom the medical system fails. I thought this would make him proud of me, but I didn't know until I lost him that he has always been proud of everything my sister and I have done.

My father, Dale Cook, passed peacefully away on April 10th of this year, leaving behind two loving daughters and a granddaughter he believed to be the sweetest in the world. The thought that he is finally free of all the pain he had endured in his life still comforts me.