College Plans Service for Student Killed in Flood
Occidental College lowered its flags to half-staff Thursday to honor a student who died tragically, doing what his friends say he loved best.
A memorial service will be held at Occidental today for Nathan R. Cook, 20, whose body was found Wednesday in a debris basin near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where it apparently was carried by flood waters. Cook, a junior biology major, disappeared Saturday while mountain biking on the rain-drenched trails above Altadena.
The Altadena Mountain Rescue Team of the Sheriff’s Department found Cook’s body near a stream in Oak Grove Park above Devil’s Gate Dam, five miles downstream from where his bicycle had been found days earlier.
In a statement Thursday from their Warrenton, Ore. home, Cooks’ parents thanked school officials and sheriff’s deputies, “in particular the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team that did its best and found our son.”
They added, “We wish to thank all the students who cared about Nathan and diligently stood by, hoping he would come home.”
Today’s memorial will be at the campus’ Herrick Memorial Chapel and Interfaith Center at 10 a.m.
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