Gallery: Tree planted in honor of local historian David Cook

Maclyn Walker, who is the daughter of the late David Cook, center, places a memorial marker for her father, as Miranda Barrineau, the president of Altrusa of Ocala International, right, looks on with other people where a live oak was planted during a tree planting ceremony to remember and honor David Cook at Idylweir Park at the intersection of Southeast 10th Street and Southeast 10th Avenue in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. Cook was an Ocala institution as a newspaperman and historian. He was a longtime Ocala Star-Banner newspaper editor and a Marion County historian. Before he passed away at the age of 94 in August 2020, he was able to fulfill one of his lifelong dreams to publish a book, The Way It Was, A Trek Through Marion County’s Past, which is a collection of many of his columns. Altrusa of Ocala International donated the planting of the live oak and the City of Ocala Recreation and Parks Department planted it in his memory at the park, which was adopted by the Historic Ocala Preservation Society in 2003. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.

Friends and family of David Cook, longtime Ocala Star-Banner newspaper editor and Marion County historian, recently planted a tree in his honor at Idylweir Park at the intersection of Southeast 10th Street and Southeast 10th Avenue in Ocala.

Altrusa of Ocala International donated the live oak and the City of Ocala Recreation and Parks Department planted it in his memory on March 9. The Historic Ocala Preservation Society adopted the park in 2003.

Cook, who died in 2020 at 94, was a fount of Marion County history, which he recalled in his newspaper column for years. Before his death, he published a collection of those columns in his book, “The Way It Was, A Trek Through Marion County’s Past.”

Cook’s columns are available through an online searchable database at the Marion County Clerk of the Court’s website.