When Cookie Noland passed unexpectedly last July 13 after complications following a broken hip, the LakeRidge community lost their funny, outgoing, best cook, best strong loyal friend and cheerleader for the neighborhood and this magazine.

“Cookie called me every month to talk about the stories in the latest issue,” remembers Charlie Rowten, publisher.

Her beloved husband Gene had passed on Christmas Eve 2022, exactly 60 years from the Christmas Eve in 1963 when they met while he was stationed at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. Cookie graduated from high school in Selma, Texas the next month and they married three months later. Gene was transferred to Reese AFB in ’64 and they had lived in LakeRidge 37 years in a house they designed and where Cookie spent 40 years in real estate.

“I met Cookie in 1980 working for J. W. Chapman and Son and then we both went to Nita Keisling Realtors,” remembers Kathy Whatley, her best friend for 45 years.

“After the Wednesday meeting we would be off to Denny’s. We both started our own companies in 1987, went to open houses and industries parties together. We both had breast surgery. Her husband had Alzheimer’s and mine had dementia. Her birthday is November 18. Mine is October 18. For years we got our mammograms every year on her birthday. We gave each other perms and meet for burgers and Bloody Marys. When I got sick and couldn’t drive, she picked me up every day. Then when she broke her arm and shoulder, I was her driver. My children and grandchildren loved her. She was always cooking, laughing and ready to go.”

Kathy says Cookie was always taking her to nice restaurants but told her, “You eat like a truck driver. Slow down.”

But there was also tragedy in Cookie’s life. She and Gene had two daughters, Michelle and Katrina. Katrina died in 2015 and they also lost a grandson, Austin. “Mom was just fun. My best high school friend, Brenda, and Katrina’s best friend, Chele, stayed close friends with mom till the day she died.” adds daughter Michelle Trenum, who lives in Virginia. “We were doing handstands in the backyard when I was in junior high, and mom broke her ankle trying to do them too.

“She was always clipping recipes from magazines and newspapers and trying them on us. From Borscht to Cajun, French fries to Crepes, we got great meals as kids. Then at Christmas she baked gobs of Norwegian cookies.

“Dad got 30 days leave every summer and piled us in the station wagon, hooked up a camper and off we went to the Grand Canyon, Carmel, Disneyworld and north of Seattle to see grandma. When I graduated from high school they took me to Europe. She made everything special. She took me to Neiman Marcus in Dallas to get my prom dresses – and she tried them all on too.”

“Cookie and I had dinner together on Sunday night. She had just gotten her hair and nails done. Monday morning she fell and broke her hip,” Kathy remembers with sadness. Cookie and I talked on the phone together until they put her on a ventilator. And, I was there to tell her goodbye. I miss her every day.”

In October, Cookie will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery alongside Gene, her true love of 60 years.