Emma Cocke was bom in The Hague, Netherlands in 1912. She has survived both World War I and II, traveled as an inventor’s daughter and wife of a diplomat, mastered numerous languages, lived in a marble house with no doors and reared five children. She later married Col. Philip St. George Cocke IV of Virginia who encouraged her to move to Caroline County with their two young sons. They purchased "Rock Stop" c 1770 at Rappahannock Academy in 1959, and Emma soon learned to hunt deer and shoot doves. It was the same year she joined St. Peter’s Church.
Emma first met the Rev. Ralph Fall and his wife Beth while he as an assistant at Pohick Church and she was living near Washington while Col. Cocke was stationed at the Pentagon. Later they continued as friends in Port Royal. One Sunday Beth Fall even talked Emma into singing "Sleepers Awake" with her while Beth played the organ.
Emma’s father’s ancestors came to Holland from Italy in the 17th century. He was bom in the East Indies and sent back to live with a Dutch artist and be educated in Holland. A portrait of Emma at age 6 hangs over her desk today. She still remembers sitting for hours for her father’s friend as he painted (& hating every minute of it too!).Nearby hang wonderful portraits of both her mother and father done by the same fine artist.
Emma remembers being afraid and hungiy in the war years. She remembers her father later coming to the US when AT&T hired him to install the first phone system in Pittsburg, Pa. She remembers the grapefruit(she’d never seen before) and the jars of bacon her brought home to her & her mom.
Emma and her first husband served in the diplomatic corp in Rio, Brazil prior to WWII but were called back to Holland just 2 months before the Germans invaded their homeland. He was in the Underground and was arrested twice. Emma was questioned but never was arrested.
After WWII Emma and her husband were called to Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) where she was expected to entertain dignitaries. It was here that she lived in a marble house with open doorways, had 7 servants who spoke only "Malay" and one friend who helped with the children. Other times you might have found Emma visiting in Rome or living in France or Washington, DC.
Today Emma is happy at "Rock Stop" surrounded by pictures of her friends and relatives, books and newspapers galore. She is fascinating to talk with and she will tell you tales of Helen Hull Jacobs (the tennis star) who once lived at "Rock Stop". " I once saw her play in Holland many years before I came to this country," says Emma.