By Christopher Lenois

RESERVE – Funeral services were held yesterday at Our Lady of Grace Church for Monica Cook, a 27-year old Reserve woman who was killed Thursday when her vehicle was struck by a freight train.

Monica was the oldest child of Lisa and Daniel Cook. Her mother said she looked after her two brothers, Brian and Anthony, as if she were their mother.

“She loved them both so much. She would do things for them like take Anthony to get a pair of tennis shoes that I wouldn’t buy for him,” said Lisa Cook. “And if I told her to make sure he stays in, she would do just that.”

Monica Cook was at the KCS Railroad crossing on Homewood Place just before 8 a.m. on Thursday. She had recently moved into her father’s residence on Homewood and was on her way to her job at Stage department store in LaPlace.

She ranked second to the top in sales during her four years at Stage, according to her supervisor, Arlene Washington, and she had been promoted from associate to supervisor in the children’s department in June 2001.

“The customers would come in looking for her,” said Washington. “She would have their home numbers. And when she got something they wanted for their child, she would call them.”

Working in the children’s department was a natural extension of Monica’s desire to work with children. After graduating from East St. John High School, she had been taking courses in Elementary Education at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette on and off for five years.

“She loved children, and enjoyed her job,” said Lisa Cook. “Once she got a car, she told me she was going back to school.”

Monica Cook bought her white 1998 Dodge Neon about six months ago, her mother said.

Police investigators said she stopped the car at the crossing, then began edging over the tracks as the train approached.

“The driver (train engineer) said he could see her looking right at him,” said Lt. Rick Hylander of the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The eastbound train was traveling around 49 miles per hour when it struck Cook’s vehicle, hurtling it airborne more than 50 feet from the crossing on the northeast side. Cook remained in the vehicle because she was wearing her seat belt, said Hylander. Coroner Christy Montegut said preliminary results from the autopsy revealed the cause of death to be severe trauma to the head and neck area. Complete results would not be available for approximately two weeks.

Investigators said the deadly accident was the second to involve a fatality at the Homewood Place crossing in the last five years. The crossing has warning lights but no barriers to prevent vehicles from crossing.

“When this is all wrapped up. We don’t want to let this go,” said Lisa Cook about the lack of barriers at the crossing. “Her father and I want to talk to whoever we need to talk to do about getting something done. If something had been done last time, this might never have happened.”