Born 1891 to Vestal S. and Clara Stevenson Cook, Vestal Lee came to Kansas when
  seven years old. He received his education in the Medicine Lodge public schools. In
  high school he was among the players who wanted to play football so badly that they
  paid all their own expenses to games.
     He attended Wentworth Military Academy, which he did not like; so he ran away to
  become a cowboy on a Texas ranch. He got a job on a ranch, worked there ten months,
  and was the oldest man on the job when he left. He also attended Kansas State
  University. Following this, he returned home to work with his father in the store
  and at the ranch. He liked the ranch life best.
     January 1917, he married Frances Axline; to them was born one son Vestal Lee,
  Jr.
     When we moved to the ranch, all our furniture was on a hayrack drawn by mules.
  There was a two-story, four-room house, no water, and our "Eleanor Roosevelt" was
  in the back yard. We had two or three hired men, as we worked with horses and mules
  for farming. One man in particular was Bill Gillum, who had been with Cook's family
  many years.
     After Vestal's father's death in March 1918, we moved to the other house on the
  place and hired a man with a family to help with the work. We handled cattle and
  raised wheat.
     Our first tractor was a Rumley Oil Pull. Later we bought one of the first combines,
  Gleanor, pulled by a tractor.
     Spring and fall were the busy seasons - harvest and thrashing, 15 men to feed - 
  silo filing, the men hauling in feed to the ensilage cutter to be blown into the 
  upright silo.
     After Vestal's brother, Bob, finished school, he came to live with us. He was
  interested in machinery, while Vestal was interested in the cattle - a very good
  combination. Bob was with Vestal until his marriage to Lois Holmes. After their
  father's death, the ranch was divided between Bob and Vestal.
     Our son, Vestal Jr., attended the country school and graduated from Hardtner
  High School. He rode horseback to the country school, played football, was a 4-H
  member, handled cattle, and farmed on his own. After World War II broke out, he
  went into the service and became a Navy pilot, bing discharged at its conclusion
  with the rank of Lieutenant.
     Cook and I celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary on a lovely January day
  in 1967, in the home in Medicine Lodge to which we had moved in 1949. Vestal passed
  away in July 1976, at the age of 84. In addition to a life-long interest in civic
  and church affairs, serving both well. I kept busy with many projects including
  painting in oil and watercolor, weaving at my loom, and active membership in local
  clubs and the Presbyterian Church. I still maintain my residence in Medicine Lodge.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 140 
     Submitted by: Frances Cook