Longtime Canfield Twp. roads chief retires
By Elise Franco
CANFIELD
Gary Cook’s life revolved around the Canfield Township Road Department for 35 years.
Cook’s lifelong career as road supervisor began by accident in the late 1960s when he took a part-time job mowing the lawn at Old North Cemetery. He was hired by Canfield city in 1970 to mow that same cemetery, which had been annexed from the township. And by 1975, Cook was working full time, running the road department.
Eugene Fehr, now a magistrate for Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge James Evans, said he used to work in the cemetery with Cook back in the early 1970s.
“I worked with Gary in the summertime, and I also got a chance to work with his father, who was an employee at that time,” he said. “Because I know Gary, I just can’t imagine Canfield Township without him.”
Cook said the township has grown greatly during his three decades of service.
“When I started in [1975] there were 23 streets and two full-time employees,” he said. Now, the department’s two remaining full-time employees must take care of 124 streets.
Cook’s last official day on the job was Jan. 31, and he said he spent every day of the past 35 years working alongside his subordinates.
“I was a management person, but I was also a laborer,” Cook said. “I still loaded the trucks with salt and dug the ditches and ran the plows.”
Township Trustee Martha Zarlenga said 57-year-old Cook always has been the first one in the township people look toward for help.
“He is just one of those people who, if you tell them something is wrong, he’ll ask, ‘What can I do to help?’” she said. “He’s an excellent person to work with and is very humble with old- fashioned values and so much good will.”
Zarlenga, who served for years on the Canfield Board of Education before being elected as a trustee in 2009, said Cook has been known to make house calls to residents who have a problem.
“He goes more than the unforgiving minute,” she said. “Anything you ask of him will be done in a heartbeat.”
Bob Burkett, assistant public-works foreman for Canfield Township, worked with Cook for 15 years in the road department. Burkett said the best way to describe Cook is “professional.”
“He was a good guy to work for because he is very knowledgeable. I learned an awful lot from him,” he said. “You can’t replace years of knowledge.”
Burkett said road- department employees must know how to adapt to unexpected situations, something Cook taught everyone how to do.
“He taught us how to deal with the public and situations as they arise. One phone call can change our entire day,” he said. “Gary was always concerned for the public and the township and finding the best solution.”
Cook said although his retirement took effect about three weeks ago, he’s still adjusting to not having to work.
“It’s so odd not to be responsible for the work, to look out at the snow at 3 a.m. and say, ‘I guess I’ll go back to sleep,’” he said. “I’m just used to working, so it’s really strange.”