WASHINGTON – Since 1867 many college sweethearts have found the love of their life at Howard University. One Valentine’s Day, Imani Pope-Johns and Misha Cornelius highlighted a few love stories that add to the “Howard mystique” turned life-long love that many know. Share your Howard love story online this February and tag #HowardLoveStory.
Cooking Up Love in Business and the Community:
The love story of Janet and Ted Cook developed within two weeks of Janet arriving on campus. She was working toward a degree in business and Ted was in law school. It wasn’t long after they met that they decided to get married. And although they were students with little money, they committed themselves to a lifetime together and moved into a Washington D.C. basement apartment together. Janet affectionately reminisced on the story of how the two had very little in those early days but found themselves surrounded by an abundance of love and community.
Eventually, the Cooks went on to become serial entrepreneurs, opening a successful staffing agency in the D.C. area that notably staffed the development of a terminal in Union Station. The Howard couple raised two children – Quinn Cook, a successful basketball player for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, and Kelsey Cook, who is pursuing a music career in New York.
When Ted passed in 2010, Janet and her family felt a sense of tremendous loss, but nevertheless remained strong and connected. Today, Janet runs the Cook’s businesses and remains tightly connected to the Howard community.
“We were able to pass down the fortitude and determination that Howard instilled in us as parents so that in the face of tragedy, both our children were able to stay focused. We were only able to do it because of the community,” said Janet. “In the Howard community, we adopt each other’s kids, so the community adopted my two and were there every step of the way. But also, we’ve been passing on the determination and supreme confidence that Howard instilled in us since the day our children were born. I owe everything to Howard.”
