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“We’d been thinking for a while about how we wanted to give back,” Mark said.
“So, when the email came, it caught our attention,” Mary recalled. “We’re really glad we said yes.” What followed, she added, were relationships that would extend well beyond a single meeting and shape their next Aggie chapter.
Engineering a Life
Mark grew up in a household of six children. When he decided to study chemical engineering at Texas A&M University, his parents encouraged him, but paying for college would be his responsibility. He funded his studies through a combination of summer jobs and scholarships. “Without scholarships, I would’ve needed a job just to cover expenses,” he said. “Instead, I could focus on studying.” The freedom to pursue a degree without constant financial pressure made a lasting impression. Outside of class, Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society, and Omega Chi Epsilon, the chemical engineering honor society, drew his attention.
Inspired by the support that shaped Mark’s own path at Texas A&M, the Cookes have turned their success into opportunities for others.
Meanwhile, in summer 1974, a mutual friend introduced Mark to Mary on a night out in Victoria, Texas. Soon after, Mary began attending Aggie football games and found herself drawn to Texas A&M’s traditions and culture. “Even though I’m not an Aggie by degree, the spirit has always stood out to me, and I’m happy Aggies today are carrying it forward,” Mary said. “The students are still warm and still say ‘Howdy,’ and there’s a sense of values being passed down.”
A year after meeting, they married. After graduation, Mark’s chemical manufacturing career took the Cookes to Victoria while they raised their three children: Aaron ’02, Allison and Lauren. Over nearly four decades at Union Carbide Corp. and later The Dow Chemical Co., Mark progressed from operations engineering to management roles. After retiring in 2013, and soon after, the question of giving back became more immediate.
It All Started With an Email
Saying “yes” to a meeting with Texas A&M Foundation development officer Claire Pavliska ’20 marked the beginning of the process. Pavliska and Anna Norville, an engineering development officer, visited the Cookes, and the four began talking about what giving back might look like for the couple. The conversation ended with an invitation to return to campus. When they arrived back in Aggieland, it was like stepping into a familiar memory that had been reshaped.
The highlight of their tour with Pavliska and Norville was the Zachry Engineering Education Complex. “I spent a lot of time in the building as a student, but it was unrecognizable,” he said. “I’d read about the expansions, but seeing it in person was eye-opening.” Being on campus again helped clarify their thinking, and their abstract idea of a gift began to take on a more concrete form.
The Cookes also connected with Kevin Westerman ’11, the Foundation’s assistant vice president for charitable gift planning, and began exploring the mechanics behind a gift, from tax-efficient strategies to designations. “It felt like a meeting for us to learn more,” Mary said, “not a meeting to ask for anything. It was about figuring out what made sense for our family as potential philanthropists. The more we learned, the more we knew we wanted to get involved.”
After a chance email and a quick trip back to Aggieland, the Cookes are now helping students overcome barriers and pursue their college journeys.
Ultimately, the Cookes established the Mary and Mark E. Cooke ’75 Endowed Scholarship in Chemical Engineering through an IRA qualified charitable distribution. Their gift agreement outlines the scholarship’s preference for students from Victoria County, where they spent much of their lives, or Colorado County, where they live now.
They learned that their gift, like all endowments, would be invested in the Foundation’s collective Endowment and would take around a year to accumulate enough earnings to award the first scholarship. The couple decided to accelerate the timeline by contributing additional funds to immediately award students until the endowed amount had collected enough earnings to be self-sustaining. “We had the means and thought, ‘Why not give a little extra so it could get started right away?’” Mark said. This approach allowed their scholarship to begin supporting six chemical engineering students last fall, less than a year after they created their gift.
Later in the fall, they received another invitation: the Department of Chemical Engineering Scholarship Banquet. “It was the perfect opportunity to meet our scholarship recipients,” Mary said. From thank-you cards at the semester’s start to introductions at the banquet, the Cookes have connected with their students and seen their legacy in action. “A lot of thought went into making sure we were prepared to make the gift, but once we saw it in fruition, it was the most incredible feeling,” Mary said with a smile.
Since then, the Cookes have remained in close touch with the Foundation team. Pavliska and Norville later joined the couple for a visit to Mark’s brother’s vineyard, meeting the Cookes’ daughter and granddaughter. More recently, they surprised the couple with a photo and plaque commemorating their scholarship. “They’re more than just representatives of the Foundation now,” Mark said. “They’re friends.”
Meeting the Next Generation
Thanks to the Cookes’ support, James Manuel ’26 has invested more time in the communities he has found on campus, fostering his personal growth while also guiding others in their college journeys.
One of the students the Cookes met at the banquet was James Manuel ’26, a chemical engineering major from The Woodlands, Texas. Manuel serves as an officer for Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society Mark once led as a student. After the banquet, Manuel asked Mark if he would serve as an alumni advisor for the group, and Mark happily agreed. Since then, the couple has strengthened their relationship with Manuel through texts, calls and Mark’s participation with the organization.
Earning the Cookes’ scholarship came as an honor and a relief. “It helped ease my family’s financial burden,” Manuel said. But the scholarship also shaped his Aggie experience in a less visible way. “Hearing how much the Cookes value Texas A&M and its culture stayed with me,” he said. “It made me appreciate the traditions we preserve while moving forward as a university.”
With the Cookes’ support, Manuel has invested more in the relationships and communities he’s built at Texas A&M. Along with Tau Beta Pi, he serves as an ambassador to the Craig and Galen Brown Engineering Honors Program and is an active member of its Executive Committee. He is also a member of the Zachry Leadership Program, which he says has been the most influential part of his college career. Outside of engineering, he participates in Texas A&M’s Kappa Upsilon Chi, a men’s organization dedicated to promoting Christian fellowship and brotherhood through service.
After graduation, he plans to pursue Texas A&M’s one-year accelerated Anthony Bahr ’91 Engineering MBA program and eventually work in the oil and gas industry. Inspired by the Cookes’ generosity, Manuel hopes to pay it forward. “Their willingness to invest in my future gave me confidence that I can make an impact,” he said. “I would like to do the same for another Aggie someday.”
