Teena Cook

Teena Marie Cook was born in Logan Utah on June 21, 1956, to parents Dean and Zella Mortensen. She passed away peacefully on September 29, 2024, at her home in Salem, VA, surrounded by family. She is survived by husband Bruce Cook, and children Aaron Cook, Natalie Sheets, Cameron Cook, and Lauralee Miller along with their spouses and 8, soon to be 9, grandchildren.

She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and loved volunteering with children there. She earned a Bachelor’s in communication from the University of Northern Michigan and a Master’s in communications from the University of Wyoming. She was born and raised in Utah but moved to Virginia to be a National Park ranger after college.  She owned and operated her own photography business for over 40 years in Salem, VA specializing in children and preschools, and she taught at Virginia Western. She never truly retired from photography, and in the last few years, she also became a master in pottery.  

Teena loved life, and she was a leader in organizing fun activities and vacations to spend time with her family. She taught all of her own children and many others to believe in themselves, enjoy life, and help others. She worked hard to spend lots of time with her 8 grandchildren across the country. They loved to see her because she always had a new craft for them to do or treat to bake. Her family was incredibly blessed to have their lives enriched by her. They will miss her dearly but takes comfort in knowing, as she did, that they will all be together again one day.

A visitation will be held at 5pm followed by a memorial service at 6pm on Friday, October 4, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 6311 Wayburn Dr., Salem, VA. The service will also be streamed online. Streaming via Zoom for her 6pm memorial service is through this link: https://zoom.us/j/97936720661

Teena requested that those wishing to make a donation in her honor could do so to the LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund: https://philanthropies.churchofjesuschrist.org/humanitarian-services/funds/humanitarian-general-fund/