Joseph Vernon Cook, 89, passed away at home on January 26, 2003. He was born August 18, 1913, in Garden City, Utah, to Joseph Nelson Cook and Julia Alnora Dustin. He graduated from North Rich High School and attended Utah State University in Logan. Vernon married Cleo Berniece Kimball on June 15, 1934, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They lived in Logan most of their married life. She passed away December 27, 2001. They were married 67 years. He was devoted to her and his family. Starting in 1938 Vernon founded, acquired and operated a group of related transportation companies. A bus business operated out of Logan, Ogden and Salt Lake primarily through Cook Transportation Company (and for a time Lake Shore Motor Coach Lines). These companies provided local as well as school bus service in northern Utah and long distance charter service throughout North America for over 50 years. In addition he owned and operated an automobile business in Logan that included at various times the Studebaker-Packard dealership and the Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge dealership. He greatly valued his principle business associates and was deeply appreciative of the hundreds of loyal employees he worked with over the years and had an unusually strong personal relationship with most of them. Vernon possessed strong entrepreneurial, administrative and marketing skills necessary for his business, and was unique in the exceptional mechanical skills and vision that allowed him to fix or invent solutions to problems as the occasion required. He was an aviation enthusiast and owned several airplanes in which he logged approximately 16,000 hours of flight time over five decades. He served on the Logan City Commission for eight years from 1952 until 1960 with Mayor W. W. Owens and Ben Evans. He was actively involved in professional, community and service organizations. He was never too busy to assist someone in need of help. Vernon is survived by his sister Loa Lamborn of Laketown, Utah and his brothers, Oris Kaa Cook of Cokeville, Wyoming and Lew D. Cook of Logan, Utah; as well as his children: Joseph Vernon, Jr. and Nancy Cook, Media, Pennsylvania; Quentin La Mar and Mary Cook, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Jim and Susan Porter, Annabella, Utah. Vernon and Berniece have nine grandchildren and 16 great-grand-children. The family wishes to express appreciation to Vernon's devoted caregivers and Hospice personnel. Services will be held at noon on Saturday, February 1, 2003, under the direction of President Robert L. Stevenson of the Logan Utah Central Stake in the Allen-Hall Mortuary Chapel, 34 E. Center St., Logan. A viewing will be held that day from 10:00 a.m. until the service. Interment will be in the Logan City Cemetery.