Solider remembered for adventurous spirit

He was a daredevil. He loved to jump out of airplanes and snowboard, but he didn't much like playing football.

Those are just some of the fond memories Kathy Taylor has of her grandson Nicholas Cook.

Pfc. Cook, 19, was killed in action when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms in the Konar Province of Afghanistan on March 7.

He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Camp Ederle, Italy, according to a Department of Defense press release.

Cook signed up for the Army last spring. After training, he went to Afghanistan a few days before Christmas.

Kathy and her husband, Charles, raised the boy since the age of three, along with his older brother Chris, 23. Cook went to Canyon Elementary, Columbia Falls Junior High, and graduated from Columbia Falls High School in 2008.

"He was proud to be in the Army," Kathy Taylor said. "The economy was part of the drive. But he wanted to travel. He wanted to do something with his life."

"He loved jumping out of airplanes. He said the best feeling was the three seconds before you jump."

Growing up he played sports. He started T-ball at the age of four and was a Little Guy wrestler. He played football until he was a sophomore in high school, when he took a cleat to the face and that was enough of football for him.

"He was fun to raise," Taylor said.

What he really loved was the snow. The mountains.

"He loved to snowboard," Kathy said.

When he was stationed in Italy he was able to take some leave and snowboard in the Alps.

"He was stoked about that," Taylor said.

Taylor said they have an "adrenaline junky" family. His aunt, Beth Mueller, was also Army airborne. Other family members race at Raceway Park or they race go-carts.

But on Sunday, the news came. Taylor is night supervisor at Canyon Foods. Her husband called her to come home.

When she saw the vehicle with government plates in the driveway she knew what had happened. It was an Army Sergeant and a chaplain from the Kalispell Police Department with the news of Cook's death.

Memorial services are still being planned.

Cook's love for the mountains and for life are summed up in his MySpace page entry.

"Bein' up on a mountain with that board strapped on is home to me. Shakin' beyond the point of functioning then just goin' for it. Amazing feeling. The best feeling possible is that moment when the butterflies in your stomach carry you into that adrenaline rush. Its freedom, its when you can feel most alive."