Woman of the Century/Susan G. Cooke

SUSAN GALE COOKE. COOKE, Mrs. Susan G., of Knoxville, Tenn., though for many years a resident of the South, was born in the State of New York. She is the daughter of George Spaulding Gale, one of the most prominent surgeons of Vermont, and a grand-daughter of Gen. Summers Gale, of the same State, a hero of the War of 1812. Her mother, a woman of brilliant intellectual and social qualities, was a member of one of the oldest families in her section of the State of New York. From both her parents Mrs. Cooke inherits the energy and resolution which characterize all her undertakings. Graduating with high honors from a prominent school in New York City, Miss Gale shortly after became the wife of Sidney E. Cooke, a member of the New-York Stock Exchange, who died in Knoxville in February, 1883. Mrs. Cooke has been identified with charitable work and for several years was one of the managers of the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum, and has held several positions of responsibility and honor. She is a member of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition from Tennessee, and was selected by Mrs. Potter Palmer to serve on the executive committee. She immediately assumed the duties of secretaryship of that committee, and on the retirement of Miss Phabe Couzins as secretary to the full board, Mrs. Cooke was elected her successor. She is an indefatigable worker. Her excellent qualifications and amiability fit her for the heavy and numerous responsibilities she assumed in connection with the great Exposition of 1893 in Chicago.