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Cook remains an ‘inspiration’
Caney Fork’s Martin Cook, who has been an ‘Inspiration’ with a capital “I” for almost 42 years, is also someone who can be an inspiration for any county schoolchildren who may doubt the value of an education.
A member of the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame, Martin was recently named to the Southern Gospel Piano Roll of Honor. And The Inspirations, the gospel group he founded in 1964, was chosen Favorite Male Gospel Group at The Singing News Awards. Martin still serves as the group’s pianist, manager and emcee.
The quartet, which grew out of singing sessions Martin, who was then a high school chemistry teacher, organized in his Bryson City basement, has been at gospel music’s forefront for four decades. Yet when you talk to him about his success, Cook always downplays his own role and builds up those who have helped him along the way.
One he never fails to mention is the late Carl Killian, who was one of Cook’s teachers at Western Carolina University some 50 years ago.
“I feel like my experience at WCU is a major factor in my way of doing things,” he told The Herald two years ago. “I had teachers like Dr. Killian, who influenced me and made me want to do better.
“That’s what I try to do. I try to get the people that work with me to do better,” Martin said. “Everybody has a good side and a bad side. My job is to keep the good side turned up.”
Born on Caney Fork only a few hundred yards from where he now lives, Martin is also quick to share credit with his community – and all of Jackson County. When he’s on the road, playing in front of thousands, he’s representing all of us, he said.
“I’d like for all the people in Jackson County to know that I represent them,” Martin said last week. “Had our county – our people – not been like they’ve been, I couldn’t have done what I’ve done.”
What he’s saying is that he’s a product of the community where he was raised, and that the values he learned as a child on the farm, in school and in church are what formed his character and gave him the ability and drive to scale the heights of gospel music.
Martin sees WCU as a tremendous asset, and he and his wife, Ora, support New Century Scholars as their way of encouraging other mountain children to get an education and see where it takes them.
As Martin takes center stage with another well-deserved award, we’d like to dispense with his modesty and keep the spotlight shining on him. It’s illuminating a man who should inspire all our youngsters to reach for the stars.
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