A Celebration of Life
PHYLLIS COOKE
​March 29, 1933 - December 14, 2020

A Celebration of Life for Phyllis Cooke will take place at Overland Park Christian Church on Sunday, December 21 at 11:30 a.m. A visitation will take place one hour prior.
​Due to COVID restrictions, only 45 people will be allowed in the sanctuary at one time, and masks and social distancing are required for anyone entering the building.  
​
​You are also invited to join us for the livestream which will be shared here on our website, and also on the OPCC Facebook page; you do not have to have Facebook in order to watch the service online

Prelude
 
Words of Welcome and Comfort (Psalm 23)

Opening Prayer

Special Music - Amazing Grace
                                                                                          
Words of Remembrance 
 
Special Music - In the Sweet By-and-By / In the Garden
 
Scripture Readings

• Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
• Proverbs 31:10-31

 
Words of Promise and Hope
 
Special Music - O Holy Night
 
Prayer of Commendation
 
Blessing and Benediction(Revelation 21:3-5)

Postlude

Phyllis Cooke, 87, of Overland Park, KS, passed away Monday, December 14, 2020.

Phyllis was born March 29, 1933 in Livingston County, MO to James Harold and Mina Elizabeth Evans Denham.  Raised in the small farming communities of Ludlow and Dawn, MO she was the eldest of 10 children.  She left the farm after high school to enter        Research School of Nursing where she earned her RN degree.  The next few years were spent working at Research Medical Center and the VA Medical Center in Kansas City before becoming a full-time mother and homemaker.

In Kansas City she met Harvey, the tall, handsome teacher, at a singles group at Community Christian Church on the Country Club Plaza and they were soon married.  Together they raised a son and daughter always instilling in them the importance of education, strong morals and faith.  Eventually four grandchildren came along and Phyllis couldn’t have been happier.  She loved her grandchildren deeply and was always there to help care for them.  Phyllis was a wonderful seamstress and enjoyed singing in the church choir.  Study Club, Overland Park Christian Church Women’s Circle and being involved in Steve & Pam’s activities were some of her favorite pastimes.  Along with her homemaking duties, Harvey kept her busy fixing up and maintaining their rental properties for many years. 

Her husband, Harvey J. Cooke, died January 6, 2016. She was also preceded in death by four siblings, Shirley Cook, Kathryn DuBois, Ron Denham and Jim Denham.

She is survived by her children, Pam (the late Charles) Engelken and Steve (Julia) Cooke; a sister, Carolyn Huff; brothers, David Denham, John Denham, Kenneth Denham and Bill Denham and her grandchildren, Stephanie Cooke, Mallory Cooke, Michael Engelken and Jaimie (Brian) Soetaert.

Funeral services will be Monday Dec. 21st at 11:30 am at the Overland Park Christian Church with burial following in Johnson County Memorial Gardens. Visitation will begin one hour prior to the service. The service is being live streamed and may be viewed on the OPCC Facebook Page or the OPCC Website.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to Overland Park Christian Church, Lumicare Hospice or to “The Steeple of Light” (Frank Lloyd Wright) restoration fund at Community Christian Church.

Obituary courtesy of Amos Family Funeral Home

A Celebration of Life
JUDY CATHERINE ZEMAN
​June 10, 1944 - November 29, 2020

A Memorial Service for Judy Zeman will take place at Overland Park Christian Church on Sunday, December 6 at 2:30 p.m. Due to COVID restrictions, only 45 people will be allowed in the sanctuary at one time, and masks and social distancing are required.  
​
​You are also invited to join us for the livestream which will be shared here on our website, and also on the OPCC Facebook page; you do not have to have Facebook in order to watch the service online.

Judy passed peacefully at her home in Overland Park on the morning of November 29, 2020.   She was born on June 10, 1944 in Omaha, NE, the daughter of John Miles Leypoldt and Catherine Spencer.  She was the granddaughter of Frances Spencer of Grand Island, NE, whom she greatly adored and admired as a child.
 

​Her youth was spent in Omaha where she attended Dundee Presbyterian Church as a child and graduated West Side High School in 1962 along with her friends Trudy Gruidel, Nancy Holle and Bob Hays, among others.  Following high school, she married James Zeman, who worked for F.W. Woolworth’s in Omaha, and the two of them enjoyed their newlywed days in Panama where James served in the army as a missile and rocketry technician.  They narrowly escaped harm in the Day of Martyrs Rebellion in Panama when a young Manuel Noriega arranged their rescue from the conflict, which involved a dispute by locals over the American flag being flown above the Panamanian flag.  Judy was flown home to Omaha with fallen American soldiers and Deputy Secretary of Defense Cyrus Vance.  Following this, the pair resided in the towns of Omaha, Beatrice, Lincoln, Spencer WI, Fargo, Waterloo IA, Hamburg IA, Overland Park KS, and Springfield, Missouri before Judy relocated to Overland Park her latter years following her husband’s death.
 
Along her journey, she lovingly raised her children and assisted in the family dimestore in Hamburg, IA.  Later she worked as a well loved Personal Care Assistant for Oxford Home Health in Springfield, and also as a Nanny and school cafeteria worker.  In Overland Park, in her latter years, she worked at Children’s Village Montessori Daycare and later ran her own in-home licensed daycare where she was also well loved and remembered by many families, providers, and children.   She was a beloved, motherly shoulder and friend for many whom she befriended in life including Gary Hansen, of Hamburg, Iowa, Sue O’Donnell of Overland Park, the Gill family of Montana including Jakob and Jessie (“her Joy”), the Sloan family including Kiefer and Cooper, the Olive family of Springfield including David, Lillian, and Frances, and Cathy Stewart of Springfield, Leann Manifold, Jane Manning, and her good neighbor Dorothy Jimerson, all of whom she considered her family.  During her final year she appreciated the steadfast kindness and care of her personal care aides who helped her, a former aide herself, in her final tedious struggle with dementia, including Angel, Astou, Macy, Unique, Karen and Sharon, among others, as well as her hospice nurses Rachel and Sheena.  Many thanks also for the kindness and charity of St Joseph Medical Center and her caring physician's Matthew Buss, Kirk Sloan, Anil Gosalia, Kuldeep Singh, Arthur Allen, and practitioners Anucio Joseph and Saida Alarab.
 
Judy was a devoted woman in her faith and spent her final years in fellowship with Overland Park Christian Church, where she publicly confessed Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and was baptized in recent years.  She appreciated the ministry and help of her faith sisters there including Rev. Laura, Peggy and Sharon among many.
 
Judy is survived by her children, John and Steve Zeman, of the Kansas City area, with their spouses Diane and Christy, and has now departed to join her first born child, Joy, her loving husband, James, and grandmother Frances, whom she ultimately grew to become very much like after so many years.  Judy was and is a caring, loving, childlike soul, and her presence in this world will be greatly missed.  Her spirit and memory will be reflected upon and cherished by all who knew her, and the love she gave will be forever shared.
 
Funeral will be 2:30 pm Sunday, December 6th at Overland Park Christian Church, 7600 W 75th St., Overland Park, KS.  Masks required. Services will also be live-streamed on the OPCC Website or OPCC Facebook Page
 
Interment of urn will be 2:00 PM Monday, December 7th at Westlawn Cemetery in Omaha.

Obituary courtesy of the Cremation Society of KC