Lowrey Honored by Optimist Club

On Tuesday, the East Ridge Optimist Club met in its monthly meeting with special guest speaker Mimi Lowrey.

Lowrey, who became the chairman of the East Ridge Needy Child Fund last year, was presented with a plaque by the club in recognition of her service to the community.

Club President John Tilley said Lowrey demonstrated outstanding leadership of the organization during last Christmas. The organization raised nearly $50,000 and provided Christmas presents and much-needed necessities to more than 50 families and 150-plus children.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.