Patricia Smith Cook, M.D.

November 7, 1933 - January 17, 2022

A Memorial Mass will be held on Friday, January 28, 2022 at 11:00 AM in St. Ann Catholic Church and Shrine, 3601 Transcontinental Drive, Metairie, Louisiana, 70006, for Patricia Smith Cook, M.D. FAAN, who passed away peacefully at her residence on Monday, January 17, 2022. Father Michael Lamy, Parochial Vicar, will conduct the funeral services. Funeral Services were held on Saturday, January 22, 2022 at 2:00 PM in Martin & Castille's La Fleur de Lis Chapel in Lafayette, for Patricia Smith Cook, M.D. FAAN, who passed away peacefully at her residence on Monday, January 17, 2022. The family received guests at Martin & Castille's SOUTHSIDE location on Friday, January 21, 2022 from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM with a Rosary prayed at 6:00 PM. Visiting resumed on Saturday from 10:00 AM until the time of service. Rev. Howard Blessing conducted the funeral services. Dr. Cook was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 48 years, Ernest J. Cook, Jr. DDS, whom she married while she was in medical school, and her parents, Althea La Porte Smith and William James Smith, Sr., and a sister, Theresa Smith Barrios of Austin, Texas. She is survived by her siblings, Wm. J. Smith, Jr. (Thoy) of Simpsonville, SC, Maureen Smith Lockhart of Metairie, LA, Judith S. McDonald (Patrick) of Metairie, LA, T. Michael Smith (Joan) of Baton Rouge, LA, and Denise S. Domingue (Louis) of Lafayette, LA, and her Lil Dude (son of the late GRHRCH Spring Lake Dude MH) who recently preceded her in death. She also leaves many nieces and nephews, grand nieces and nephews, and many close and loving friends and associates. She was a native New Orleanian and lived there until Hurricane Katrina, losing her home in N.O. East. She and her husband took residence in Maurice, LA near her sister, Denise and her husband Louis. She continued to practice Neurology in her Metairie office, opened a satellite office in Lafayette near her home, commuting weekly between these until her illness became terminal. In Thibodaux, she had a monthly clinic which closed in the summer of 2010. After Katrina, it was fortuitous that Dr. Michael Happel joined her in the Metairie office, and she became associated with The Neurology Clinic (now Northlake Neurological Institute), without such an association she would not have been able to continue her practice. She was particularly grateful to her sister, Maureen, who had been her office manager for years, who provided a dwelling place and her New Orleans food fix on her weekly commutes, and also to her youngest sister, Denise and her family who welcomed her and eased her into the Acadiana country lifestyle, and was also a source of instant support. The first verbal expression of the desire to be a physician was as a freshman at St. Mary’s Dominican High School, though she could recall thinking about medicine as a profession in the 7th grade or earlier, having been impressed by the dedication of our pediatrician, Dr. Ruth Alleman. She had stayed all night in their home ministering to her little sister, Judy, who was quite ill with fever and it seemed that she would die. But, like a miracle, she lived. When preparing for the State Rally in Math competition, one of the nuns commented that she “hoped you will be one of us one day”, to which she answered, “no, I’m going to be a Doctor”. Thereafter, her only goal was to finish college so she could go on to medical school. It was not until she dropped her medical school application into the mail did it dawn on her that it was not her decision, but others would determine that. She was blessed by God’s help and good health, a supportive husband, family, friends, and staff allowing her to achieve some of her goals and aspirations. She was particularly energized by her patients’ courage and fortitude, as they were the spark that drove her to continue to practice medicine. Educated by the Dominicans from grade school, she graduated from St. Mary’s Dominican College with a BS in Chemistry and Biology with Honors. During medical school, she worked as an Extern at Hotel Dieu Hospital, then graduated from LSU School of Medicine in 1960, followed by a rotating multispecialty internship at So. Baptist. She was a teaching Fellow/Internal Medicine resident at Tulane Medical/So. Baptist. She completed LSU/Charity Neurology Residency program, during two of those three years, she was Chief Resident. She continued with post graduate neuroophthalmological work at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and additional training in EEG and pediatric neurology while on the Academic Staff in the LSU Neurology Department between 1965-70. In 1970, she was the first neurologist to enter full time private practice of Neurology, adult and pediatric, in the greater New Orleans area, prior to which all neurologists practiced at the Medical Schools or Ochsner, or combined Psychiatry and Neurology practice. She was on the Clinical Staff in the New Orleans LSU Department of Neurology, Associate Professor of Neurology. She was Board Certified in Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc. and Board Certified in EEG/EP by the American Board of EEG and Neurophysiology, Inc. She was a Fellow in the American Academy of Neurology and member in its sections on Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, and Movement Disorders. She was an examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, American Board of EEG, and guest examiner for the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. She was Past President of the Am. Medical EEG Association and on its Board of Trustees for many years. She was Past President of the Medical Staff of Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital, and twice President of the New Orleans Neurological Society and named an Honorary Member. She was a member of the AMA. La. State Medical Society, and the Orleans Parish Medical Society. She was a member of other professional societies including the Am. Assoc. of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine, and National Headache Society. She had been named among Best Doctors, Top Doctors in New Orleans and Louisiana, among other awards. Although she was on the staff of a number of hospitals before Katrina, at the time of her death, she was on the Courtesy Staff of East Jefferson General, Consulting Staff of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Lafayette. Giving some balance to her life as an active physician, she had several avocations, painting and sports. Her interest and talent in visual arts dated back to childhood, and after her medical training, she attended the John McCrady School of Art for several years and workshops with Fredric Taubes, from which she received solid foundation for basics and contributed to her success in working with watercolors, acrylics, and oils. Her subjects varied but directly related to her connection with the subjects of still life, flowers, mountainscapes, landscapes, portraits of her Labradors, one of which included herself. She considered herself a “painterly” painter. She was a member of the American Physicians Art Association, the Terrebonne Fine Arts Guild, Crowley Art Association and Gallery, Louisiana Watercolor Society. She exhibited in various venues. She occasionally sold a painting, but most were given as gifts or donated as fund raisers, or reproduced as note cards or posters. Some of her paintings were reproduced for the covers of La. State Medical Society Journals. Much of her own personal collection was lost with Katrina, but she managed to paint considerable numbers in her new studio in Maurice. Her sports interests were as an active participant. After passing her first figure skating tests (the beginning of many) at the Skating Club of New York, she returned home to organize and was a founding and Charter member of the Figure Skating Club of New Orleans (since 2000. Domiciled in Lafayette, LA) She was the only President of FSCNO from 1975 through May 2011. She was a judge for the US Figure Skating association for Pairs, Freestyle, Moves, and Ice Dancing until her death, and actively skated those disciplines until 2009. She was particularly proud of passing the Masters’ Blues ice dance in Sun Valley, and her half time performance with her pair partner to “Staying Alive” in 1998 at the Brass Hockey game in the Municipal Auditorium, where she had first gotten on ice as a child. Her advances in figure skating were directly related to having many excellent coaches who readily accommodated her schedule. These included coaches at Sky Rink in NY, Dennis Sveum in St. Louis, Carol Fox in Denver, Charlie Fetter in Sun Valley and Princeton, Steve Williams in Houston, and Shane Douglas of San Francisco. She was an avid downhill and teleskier, and for many years a marathon runner, feeling all these prepared her for her figure skating, though those sports also became as intense as her other endeavors. Because of her Labrador, she was a member of the Amite River Hunting Retriever Club, AKC, and UKC. View the obituary and guestbook online at www.mouring.com Martin & Castille - SOUTHSIDE, 600 E. Farrel Road, Lafayette, Louisiana, 70508. 337-984-2811