It was fitting that Miami Lakes civic leader Dorothy Cook was honored on Arbor Day.
Cook was 89 when she died Dec. 27 at a memory care facility in Sarasota.
Three generations of Cook’s descendants joined Mayor Manny Cid, Councilman Luis Collazo and friends and members of the Miami Lakes Garden Club on April 28 for a ceremony at Mary Collins Community Center.
A live oak planted in her memory stands at the entrance.
Over decades, Cook was an extraordinary volunteer who served in the Miami Lakes Civic Association, was a leader in the incorporation movement and fulfilled the term of a councilman who moved away.
Her daughter Dana Cook Westmark said on behalf of her family, “We want to just thank you for recognizing her true spirit. It really was to grow a community. So I think the tree is the perfect way to acknowledge that.”
Collazo said, “Dorothy was the great lady of Miami Lakes. … she was perfect in every way, from her greeting down to the way she made everybody feel.”
In the photo: Shown with a live oak tree at Mary Collins Community Center that was planted to honor the late Miami Laker Dorothy Cook, from left are family friend Mody DeLucca; Cook’s former daughter-in-law Maritza Trimble of Miami Lakes; son-in-law Michael Westmark and daughter Dana Cook Westmark, of Sarasota; son Scott Maxwell of North Miami and granddaughter Lauren Maxwell Fernandez. Not shown: Great-grandson Matias Zachariah Fernandez. Photo by Linda Trischitta.